Old Town council approves budget

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OLD TOWN – The City Council unanimously approved this week the amended municipal budget of $20.9 million.

The recent closure of the Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill has resulted in about $70 million in lost property tax valuation to the city. To make up for the lost tax revenue, the city has made about $1.2 million in budget cuts that the council voted to split 50-50 with the School Department.

There have been numerous budget meetings and workshops by both the council and the school board since the necessary budget decrease was announced, and Monday’s meeting passed with only two members of the public asking questions of the council.

The city budget was approved at about $7.1 million, which is about $227,000 less than last year, and the school budget at $13.2 million, which is about $21,000 less than last year. County taxes have been set at $526,221.

The total revenues are estimated at $12.6 million, with about $8.2 million to be raised through property taxes.

A request from the school board at last week’s joint workshop with the council to increase the tax rate and minimize the cuts on the school side was brought up by resident Peter Dufour.

“The council doesn’t set the mill rate,” City Manager Peggy Daigle explained. “That’s something the assessor does. We don’t know where all of his values will come in.”

The council previously determined that budget cuts should be made to increase the mill rate to about $25 per $1,000 of property valuation. The city’s current tax rate is $24.20.

“What the council is shooting for in terms of cuts is for the 25 mill rate,” Daigle said.

Before the mill closed, the school reduced its proposed $1.5 million budget increase by about half in order to keep the city’s tax rate at a more reasonable level.

Half of the school’s portion of cuts necessary because of the mill closure is being covered by a shift in funding.

The council has agreed to use $100,000 that has been earmarked for new school bond debt to ease the current burden and apply the funds to existing debt.

In addition, the city will fund $215,000 in roof repairs at Leonard Middle School until this fall, when the school can obtain bond funding for the project. At that time, the city would recoup its money.

Other school cuts include restructuring of education technicians; elimination of an education technician in the elementary school, a high school social studies teacher, and a middle school literacy teacher; reducing the elementary school principal to half-time; elimination of freshman basketball; and stipends for department head positions that weren’t eliminated previously will be cut.

A change to the original budget reduction proposal is that the community pool, located at the high school, will be kept open for the summer rather than closed immediately.

“The pool will operate for three months of the year from June to August and will be shut down during the remaining nine months,” Daigle wrote in a letter to the council that members received Monday.

This is expected to allow the three entities who share responsibility for the pool – the school, city, and Old Town-Orono YMCA – time to develop a long-term plan of action for the facility.

Reductions to the city budget include cutting Police Department overtime and bringing the school resource officer back into the department, ceasing library operations on Saturdays, eliminating one dispatch position at public safety, eliminating a public works clerk and full-time laborer, and eliminating funding for a parks and recreation director.

The city has agreed to pick up the $6,000 cost of a crossing guard, which the School Department has cut out of its budget.

To increase its revenues, the city has increased fees for dump stickers to use the city recycling center, as well as for code enforcement permits, parking spaces, burn permits, and the ambulance contract.

The council also decided Monday night to allow city staff to move forward with disposing of the French Island Community Center to generate additional revenue.

As requested at previous budget workshops, Daigle answered resident Sarah Lindsay’s inquiry about a committee being formed to look at where the city is now that the mill is closed, and where residents, city staff, and Old Town students would like to be in the future.

“Once we get this done and under our belts, [Superintendent David Walker] and I will be getting together and trying to get that group together because we think it is important,” Daigle said.

Voter registration hours in Old Town

The registrar of voters will be in the basement of Bangor Savings Bank at 265 Main St. to register new voters and correct the voting list at the following dates and times:

. 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. June 9.

. 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. June 12.

. 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Election Day, June 13.