Closed G-P mill loses $70 million in value

OLD TOWN – The new value of the Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill has been set at $65 million, which is $70 million less than it was last year when the facility was in full operation, according to figures provided Wednesday by City Manager Peggy Daigle.

Since G-P announced in March that it was closing the mill, the city has been looking at what can be done to reduce the municipal and school budgets to minimize the impact of losing a business that provided 34 percent of the city’s tax base while still retaining services.

At a special joint council and school board meeting, councilors voted Wednesday night to set the tax rate at $25 per $1,000 of property valuation. That’s up from last year’s rate of $24.20 per $1,000 of valuation.

For a home valued at $100,000, that means an $80 increase.

To reach the tax rate set Wednesday night, the school and municipality must share the burden of reducing their overall budget by about $1.3 million.

“We’re all here tonight to try and work together,” Council Chairman Gary Sirois said.

Public hearings on the scenarios and proposed cuts – the majority of which are expected to be losses in personnel on both sides – will be publicized as the boards move forward in making reductions.

Daigle explained that G-P isn’t happy with the 52 percent reduction in its property.

“They want more,” she said.

The city is preparing for a possible abatement on the property.

“We’re hoping it doesn’t happen, but we want to be prepared,” Daigle said.

In addition to setting the tax rate, the council voted Wednesday to split the cuts 50-50 between the school and city budgets, but that split might not be final.

Sirois requested that Daigle and Superintendent David Walker create a tier system of what the cuts would look like if the percentage were split differently, including what services, programs, and positions would be affected.

“This is no easy task,” Sirois said. “It’s not school versus municipality and I really don’t want to get to that point.”

The school board voted last week to scale back its proposed $1.5 million budget increase by $740,000 in order to keep the city’s tax rate at a more reasonable level.

City officials stated that they’ve been working to reduce their budget over the last few years, and reductions to police, fire, and public works were made just last year.

With the mill closed, those cuts now will be even deeper, and the majority of the residents and school employees at Wednesday’s meeting said they didn’t support additional reductions on the school side.

“The cuts that have been made are enough,” resident James Dufour said of the school reductions. “I think there’s room to be cut on the municipal side.”

Dufour was one of about 40 residents, teachers, and students who attended Wednesday’s meeting.

A common theme among those who spoke to the boards was that the school needs to do a better job at marketing its assets to attract tuition students, as well as bring families to the area.

“The school is the best marketing and economic development tool the community has,” Dufour said.

Residents, councilors, and board members also agreed that once the immediate money problems are solved, the city should begin to look at options of working with surrounding schools.

Members of both boards recognized residents’ frustrations, and agreed to work together as the process moves forward.

“This has been no easy task on either one of these boards, and we’ve got a very difficult task before us,” Sirois said.