Special to the Pioneer Times
HOULTON – The town’s board of budget review is in the midst of discussing another year’s funding recommendations. During last weeks’ meeting, held on Thursday, Dec. 6, the departments under discussion were: administration, debt service, parks and recreation, fire, ambulance, and cemeteries. No issues were voted on at the meeting, but rather the board used the time for questions and information gathering.
The board did discuss making a recommendation for allotting more funds for records preservation, which falls under the administration department. According to Doug Hazlett, the Houlton town manager, the town office has records in its safe dating back into the 1800s. In the 2007 expense budget, $1,500 was marked for records preservation.
“Fifteen-hundred dollars does like a book or two,” Hazlett said, “and we have 40 books that need to be preserved.”
The board discussed the possibility of transferring $500 of travel funds under the fire department to go toward records preservation.
There will be two major decreases in the debt service department for 2008: bond interest will decrease by $6,840, since the one remaining bond will be paid-off in October, and the cost of the short-term loan taken out last year is lower than expected by $23,440, since the 2007 budget amount was used to reduce the principal.
The one major increase in this department is $76, 436 for investment in tax incremental finance (TIF) districts, compared to $12,000 in 2007. The TIF districts are an economic tool which allows the town to award specific tax refunds, which are capped at 10 years, for certain kinds of business development, that promote job creation or increase the tax base.
“If there’s a real budget message that has to get across to the board of review and to the council,” Hazlett said, “the real gain in expenditures for a town isn’t on cutting costs, it’s on growing revenue.”
Hazlett continued, “If you look at our total expense, only 2 percent of our budget is debt. That’s remarkable.”
A $21,516 increase has been recommended for the fire department, most of which is to reflect a more accurate account of overtime and sick and vacation leave, along with $2,800 toward new tires for the ladder truck. Likewise, a $37,022 increase has been recommended for ambulance to better account for overtime and $2,800 for the increased cost of medical supplies.
“A lot of people don’t realize how small the fire department is,” Hazlett said, “there are 21 volunteers that are the majority of the fire department. There are only eight people in the fire department that are paid.”
The parks and recreation department shows an increase on $20,510, the majority of which is to cover utilities, such as increased fuel and electricity costs. The change in minimum wage from $6.75 to $7 per hour also impacts the park and recreation department due to the number of part-time seasonal employees. Local cemeteries account for a $3,072 increase to better reflect fuel and equipment repair costs. As it stands, the total 2008 budget recommendation is an increase of $376,083 – from $8,155,602 in 2007 to $8,531,685 for 2008.
The next board of budget review meeting will be held on Thursday, Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m. at the Houlton Town Office in the Town Council Chambers. Topics discussed will be: assessing, tax abatements, community development, code enforcement, police, public works, and employee benefits.
