BRUNSWICK
Brunswick’s town council had a first look this week at the town manager’s proposed $23.5 million municipal budget — a 5 percent expenditure uptick from last year.
The proposal is about $1.1 million more than last year’s approved budget.
The amount to be raised by taxes is $15.9 million, after calculating the $7.5 million in revenue generated from the general fund balance, excise taxes and other sources which offset the tax impact. The tax rate impact to residents is about 1.7 percent.
The municipal budget, the proposed school budget and the town’s share of the county budget at $1.5 million, could raise the total tax impact to about 5 percent, with the three proposals totaling $63 million. Finance Director Julia Henze on Tuesday said that is the figure the council will zero in on in upcoming meetings.
The council and the school district will meet April 27 to discuss the school’s $37 million proposal.
About 60 percent of the money raised by residents is allocated toward funding education, 14.7 percent for public safety, with public works and general government coming in at about 6.4 percent each.
Uncertainty over how much funding the state will provide for schools has spilled over into the budget process. Eldridge said Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed biennial budget calls for reductions in exemption programs and state reimbursement.
The town is projected to receive $1.2 million in revenue sharing, a kickback of a percentage of state sales taxes and personal and corporate income taxes to towns. The revenue sharing pool was 5 percent of the money, but was reduced to 2 percent under the LePage Administration.
A legislative measure to restore the level back to 5 percent incrementally over several years is likely to fail, Eldridge said.
Councilor John Perreault said he would like to schedule additional meetings to discuss the budget. As the schedule stands now, he said, there is not enough time to do a proper review. He requested Eldridge identify graduated tiers of cuts for the board to consider at the next workshop.
Councilor Jane Millett agreed, saying the council owes it to the taxpayers to examine the budget very closely.
“We need to look at what are needs, and what are wants,” she said.
Councilor Sarah Brayman said the budgets must be more frugal this year, especially when considering the proposal to build a new school at a cost of $28 million. She said further reductions are needed to garner her support.
Suzan Wilson said a majority of the budget is fixed — such as personnel and utility costs — and not under control of the council. She suggested focusing on discretionary spending.
The increase in the municipal budget is attributed in part to an increase in paving and reserve funds for maintenance vehicles. Town manager John Eldridge said he wants to pave roads more consistently year by year to help keep pace with needed work and recommended practices. The town manager also proposed splitting the public works director and town engineer position into separate jobs, which would be partially funded by the reduction of a public works maintenance position. A fulltime maintenance position is recommended for the Parks and Recreation Department in response to increased demands on that department, Eldridge said.
Henze said the proposed personnel changes amount to a $150,000 increase, and the money allocated for paving funding projects and vehicle reserve accounts is also a $150,000 increase.
The fund balance exceeds the target amount by $400,000, and will be used to start the capital finance reserve fund. Henze said the fund balance target is about three months of operations set aside for reserves, and totals $10 million.
The council will continue to deliberate and will hold budget workshops May 4 and May 18, in addition to the April 27 workshop with the school board.
A public hearing is scheduled for May 11. The council will vote whether to adopt the budget May 25. However, residents will get final approval of the budget at a June 13 referendum.
jlaaka@timesrecord.com
By the numbers
• $23.5 MILLION: Municipal budget • $15.8 MILLION: To be raised by taxes • 1.7 PERCENT: Tax impact • $63 MILLION: Total budget (municipal, county, school) • 5 PERCENT: Tax impact of total budget
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