Veazie budget squeeze prompts position cut

VEAZIE – Town officials have decided not to fill a vacant full-time administrative assistant position in the town office.

The town is trying to follow the direction of recently passed legislation that limits the amount of money the city can collect through taxes.

In addition, the Legislature voted to increase the so-called homestead exemption to $13,000, but reduced the reimbursement to the towns to 50 percent.

“We look at it as more of a shift – a tax shift from lower-valued properties to higher-valued commercial businesses and properties,” Town Manager Bill Reed said Friday.

Town officials still are investigating what the impact will be on taxpayers, but estimate a “shift” of between $85,000 and $95,000.

By eliminating the administrative assistant position, the town expects to save about $10,000, Reed said. “The biggest problem is that we’ve had fuel costs increase and general assistance increase. That sort of makes up for [the savings],” the town manager said.

A part-time employee will be hired to work during the busiest hours in the office, but Reed said he hopes the amount of municipal transactions being done online will increase.

“We’re hoping that Internet usage will help with that transition,” Reed said.

Residents can obtain vehicle registrations, hunting and fishing licenses, and fire permits online.

The town also intends to make municipal permits available online later this year, which is expected to continue to help cut down on the number of in-office transactions.

“It’s a big change for the town to eliminate that position,” Reed said.

Officials are trying to limit the municipal budget to a 3.5 to 4 percent increase. Final budget numbers won’t be available until after the budget workshops with municipal departments and school officials are completed.

Each municipal department is doing a review of staff productivity and exploring where cost cuts can be made. Those reports along with final department budget requests are slated to be presented to the budget committee at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 19, at the town office.