BRUNSWICK

Town councilors will convene a special meeting today to make final modifications to the 2014 municipal and school budgets before a second validation vote Aug. 20.

The meeting will start at 4 p.m. in Brunswick Station, second floor, 16 Station Ave.

Councilors must decide how to make up for a $316,000 gap caused by reductions in the state’s revenue sharing program, whether by increasing taxes, cutting or deferring spending, or a mixture of both.

Councilors 10 days ago informally endorsed a plan to reduce departmental budgets by a total of $229,610 and defer $87,000 in paving in neighborhoods along Columbia Avenue, Belmont and Oakland streets.

If adopted, the resolution would flense $33,900 from the police operating budget, $18,000 from the fire department, $23,679 from Public Works, and $33,750 from police vehicle replacement. Other cuts include some library funding, repair and capital funding projects at Parks and Recreation, and both maintenance and staffing at the Brunswick Station Visitor’s Center.

Through the final round of reductions, town officials hope to hold the proposed tax increase to 6.6 percent, which would add $1.64 to the current tax rate of $24.90, for a new rate of $26.54 per $1,000 of valuation.

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu