MILLINOCKET – A 10 percent budget cut is one of the goals Millinocket officials will aim for when they prepare the upcoming town and school budgets. The cuts were discussed at a workshop Saturday.

Expressing concern about a dramatic reduction in the work force at Great Northern Paper Inc.’s Millinocket paper mill, members of the Town Council last week all agreed to 10 percent cuts in the municipal and school budgets.

Don “Magoo” McLaughlin, council chairman, said the Millinocket paper mill would employ between 90 and 150 people. More than a year ago, the mill employed more than 700 people.

John Davis, a councilor, said the Millinocket paper mill may not start up for another year. He said between 400 and 500 people could be laid off.

McLaughlin said top Brascan officials had mentioned that property taxes in the area were extremely high for a region of about 8,000 people. He said the area could not go on with two individual police and fire departments.

Councilor Wayne Scarano said he too was concerned about the budget this year. He said if only 90 people were employed at the Millinocket paper mill, there would be a lot of people unable to pay their tax bills.

Town Councilor Gail Fanjoy agreed. She said officials needed to look at the typical services offered by communities with populations of about 5,000 people. She said many communities of similar size did not employ as many people as the town of Millinocket.

Town Manager Gene Conlogue said he expects the town would be paid all of the taxes it is owed once the sale of the paper mills is complete.

The manager said the municipal budget process would begin about the second week in April.

Matt Polstein, a councilor, said he believes Fraser Papers will be a great corporate citizen.

Polstein said the town needed to reduce costs in light of the declines in employment. He expects the town will go through a rough 12 months as the municipality gets smaller. He said the time had come when officials need to reduce staffing levels in the areas of police, fire, ambulance, the transfer station and the recreation department.

Polstein asked his colleagues if they were willing to speak with neighboring town officials about merging the three communities together. The consensus was unanimous.

Fanjoy suggested officials proceed with caution. She said officials could not “cram” something down someone’s throat. Officials said they would make themselves available to leaders from other towns who would be willing to discuss mergers.

Several council members commended the efforts of Jim Giffune, Warren Richardson, Tom Griffin, members of the interim GNP management team. Officials also commended the efforts of Polstein, Avern Danforth, a councilor, and Don McNeil, a former GNP president, for all of their efforts behind the scenes to help bring the various groups together for a successful sale of the paper company. Polstein said Peter Vigue, owner of the Cianbro Corp. and dozens of others played a big role in the deal.