Delayed Lincoln projects may be an issue

LINCOLN – Residents will avoid paying the bills this year, but the 2009-10 municipal budget might be packed with capital projects due to what has been avoided, town officials said Tuesday.

With passage of the town’s $6.17 million budget for 2008-09 Monday night, the Town Council opted to avoid buying several pieces of equipment to save residents as much tax burden as possible, interim Town Manager Lisa Goodwin said.

“You don’t want a budget where costs suddenly or dramatically increase,” Goodwin said Tuesday. “You want to keep your budget as steady as possible.”

The equipment includes a police cruiser, firetruck, excavator, loader truck and street-line painter. While the new and used equipment cost would total $400,000, the proposal that was turned down was to finance the purchases over several years and fund about $92,000 annually, Goodwin said.

But putting off the purchases to later years might mean facing a year where all those things need to be paid for, plus other equipment that has worn out since, Goodwin said.

“We need to find new and creative ways to fund capital projects over the next year,” Goodwin said. “The more you delay in paying for those things, the worse you might be making it for yourself.”

The budget passed in a series of motions resolved by votes ranging from 4-3 to 6-1. It represents a slight increase in costs from the $5.65 million budget for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.

Council Chairman Steve Clay said the budget represented the council’s best attempt to limit taxpayer burdens for the new year.

“A lot of the reason it went up was the fixed costs,” Clay said Tuesday. “Gas, new vehicles, heating costs, paving – since road tar is mixed with petroleum. Even the cost of road salt went up. Everything has gone up.”

One capital project the council did choose to fund at least partially was replacement of the public works garage. Councilors set aside $99,000 for that effort, should residents vote to approve it in a fall referendum.

A new garage would cost about $450,000; a renovation, presumably less. That money can be set aside for an eventual purchase if residents choose not to replace the garage, Clay and Goodwin said.

Councilors also opted to reject a grant application that would have funded a carbon monoxide exhaust system for the public safety building. Firefighters would have used the ventilation system to run engines indoors without needing to open bay doors.

Clay said the council didn’t want to front the money for the grant. Fire Chief Phil Dawson declined to comment on the decision.

Another significant spike in the budget was, unsurprisingly, the cost of energy. Woven as it is throughout the budgets of town department’s, one exact figure on the increase is difficult to find, said Goodwin.

She estimated that the energy costs have doubled over the past year.

Residents also will have another chance to vote in referendum on whether to buy a new street sweeper for the town. Last year, voters said no.

Estimates on how much the new budget would increase the town mill rate were not available Tuesday. The new estimated mill rate typically doesn’t emerge until fall.

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