High taxes draw resident’s outcry Brewer man appeals to council committee for serious changes in budget

BREWER – Resident Peter Larson is mad about his high property tax bill.

He’s so mad that he went to the most recent Brewer City Council meeting and demanded that a budget committee, which includes residents, be formed.

City councilors responded promptly to Larson’s request by stating the five-member council is the budget committee.

“The whole council is part of that budget committee,” Mayor Joseph Ferris said Wednesday. “We discuss the budget in public sessions so people are able to come talk about it.”

Larson, who served on the Hancock County budget committee for approximately 10 years and was a selectman in Aurora on and off for 30 years, said he approached the council because he did not feel the council was doing its job.

“I felt the council wasn’t doing that job properly,” Larson said Thursday. “They were just approving [the budget] without any research and without any attempt to cut back a little bit.”

Now that a month has passed since the meeting, Larson is feeling better about the budget process.

“I’m happy the way things went and the way the council has turned,” he said. “Now they’re saying they can and they are going to review it and are going to make cuts where it’s reasonable. I want to stop high taxes and cut the luxury spending – the unnecessary spending.”

Increasing the number of businesses in town and creating collaborative partnerships with area communities are two plans Brewer would use in the next year to keep taxes low, Ferris said.

“We can continue to grow our tax base – that’s the biggest thing we can do,” he said. “We’re also going to look hard at things we can do with other communities to save money, and I think we need to be more frugal.”

Even though the Palesky tax cap initiative was defeated resoundingly in November elections, it still sent a strong message to city leaders that reform is needed, Councilor Michael Celli said recently.

“Palesky was irresponsible,” he said during the November council meeting. “We’re in favor of [reducing taxes] responsibly without seriously hindering services or eliminating jobs.”

It’s up to residents to tell the council exactly what services they think could or should be cut in an effort to reduce taxes, Ferris said.

“That’s the trade-off,” he said.

The budget process annually begins in the spring, and the final budget must be approved by the end of June.

Statewide tax reform needs to be done in Augusta, but there are areas that could be addressed at the local level, Councilor Larry Doughty said.

“We’ve got to cut the taxes in the city,” he said. “I’m making that pledge for next year – I will fight the tax increase.”

Collaborative partnerships between departments and area communities are possible ways to save money, Doughty said.

“I think now is the time regionalization will play a role,” he said. “It’s here and it’s got to happen.”

One big issue in Brewer and other communities around the state is keeping property assessed at or near 100 percent of its market value.

The property tax rate in Brewer decreased by $3.20 to $21.18 per $1,000 of assessed value this year, but with new property valuations, most tax bills increased by an average 8.6 percent.

“We do have a problem with property values being re-evaluated,” Celli said.

The city has faced re-evaluations in 2003 and 2004 to stay within market value guidelines. Several state programs use the market value percentage to provide state funding, so if the city strays too far from the goal of 100 percent valuation, Brewer could lose money.

One suggestion kicked around by councilors in November was creating a program that rewards city employees for finding ways for the city to save money.

Councilor Manley DeBeck, who was laid off in January when Eastern Fine Paper Co. closed its doors and was unemployed for months afterward, said he understands why residents are upset about their property tax bills. DeBeck said he and the rest of the council work diligently each year to keep costs low.

“I don’t see us going out and having a party with spending,” he said. “I don’t see any frivolous spending.”