Brewer blames high taxes on Eastern

BREWER – After a resident stood up at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to question the increase in his property tax bill, Mayor Mike Celli said there is one major reason tax bills are higher than last year – the closing of the Eastern Fine Paper Co. mill.

“You had the second-largest revenue producer go under,” the mayor said. “That is the reason and the only reason that [tax bill] went up.”

Resident Kevin Duplissie told the council his property tax bill increased by $211 – 11 percent – and wanted to know why his taxes keep increasing.

“My tax bill has gone up 75 percent in the last 10 years,” he said. “It’s disconcerting.”

Eastern Fine paid the city $450,000 a year in property taxes and was the biggest customer of the city’s Waste Water Treatment Facility accounting for 50 percent of the plant’s revenue, according to Finance Director Karen Fussell. When the company closed in January and was sold, it owed the city approximately $1.2 million – a sum the city will never see, she said.

Duplissie asked how the value of his house increased during a recent evaluation when the last improvements were done several years back.

The real estate market is used to place value on property, Assessor Mary Lynn Hunter said, and the city needs to keep its assessment between 90 and 100 percent of market value to meet state requirements. Fussell has said that people want to sell their homes for a high price but often complain about paying taxes on the value.

Councilor Manley DeBeck stressed during the meeting that recent changes to the homestead exemption were done at the state level.

“It was done in Augusta,” he said after reporting that several residents had questioned him. “We had nothing to do with it.”

During the meeting, the council also:

. Accepted $498 in forfeited funds from a recent federal drug case, $500 from the local Eagles Club to benefit Brewer Police Department youth programs and $50 from Gregory Hines for the city’s records preservation and restoration fund.

. Purchased a $19,834 replacement pickup truck for the code enforcement officer.

. Awarded a $158,534 paving contract to Lane Construction Corp.; a $32,936 contract to Bangor Neon for a new community message board at the auditorium; and a $14,000 contract for architectural services with WBRC Architects and Engineers of Bangor for a library addition.

. Approved selling unclaimed bicycles to Northeast Occupational Exchange for $1.

. Accepted the resignation of Allan Campbell and David Irving from the planning board and reduced the board from nine to seven members.

. Posted four charter amendments dealing with dance hall licensing, junkyards, provisions for subdivisions and a proposed traffic direction change for Cove Street that will be considered for adoption at the next meeting.

. Approved a 14-unit subdivision plan for Penobscot Cove off Cove Street.

. Set Oct. 14 as the new due date for the first payment of property taxes and March 8, 2005, as the second due date.