Easton prepares for next budget

    After celebrating Easton’s 150th birthday and undergoing a property tax revaluation last year, town officials and residents are looking ahead to a new budget at their annual meeting next month.Eligible voters among Easton’s 1,200-plus residents will gather at its Elementary School on Monday, April 4 to approve or reject a proposed $1.1 million budget for 2016-17, along with a host of other government affairs.
“We’re going into next year strong,” said Easton Town Manager Jim Gardner. Gardner worked with town’s selectboard and budget committee to craft a proposed budget that would be a little bit different and about $60,000 less than last year’s.
Among the town’s expense areas in the proposed budget, recreation would be increased 7 percent to $86,000, and fire protection would be increased 5 percent, to $77,500. Easton’s largest expense category, the highway department, would be reduced by about 6 percent to $300,700, while insurance costs would come in about $2,000 less than last year.
In general government expenses, salaries for town staff would see an $8,000 increase, along with a $7,000 increase in highway department salaries and $2,700 increase in recreation department salaries.
Under the budget, the town would be spending about $4,000 less on outside requests from private organizations and community groups, most of it in reductions to the Field Days account. The town would be contributing $1,000 to the Francis Malcolm Science Center and $1,000 to the Easton Historical Society. Other outside requests that were previously funded would be cut, including for the Pregnancy Care Center and Aroostook Council to Prevent Child Abuse.
In its reserves, under the proposed budget, Easton would go into the next fiscal year with $150,000 in a road improvement account, $50,000 in an equipment account and $5,000 in two accounts slated for municipal and office costs.
Easton’s property tax rate for the next year won’t be determined until July, after a budget is passed by the school district, which accounts for more than 70 percent of the town’s property taxes.
More than 80 percent of Easton’s property taxes are covered by the town’s two major employers, McCain Foods and Huber Engineered Wood, but property taxes are a concern for people.
Last year brought the first property tax revaluation in 23 years — mandated by the state government. It did lead to tax increases for many homeowners even as the local mill rate stayed at $17.4 per $1,000 of assessed value. It won’t be clear what the mill rate will be for next year until the $3 million-plus school district budget is passed, Gardner noted.
“We’re going back to the basics,” Gardner said, emphasizing the town’s quest to keep the mill rate affordable.
In other Easton news, the town is working with the Department of Environmental Protection on the clean up of a town-owned property at 59 Station Road and the select board has expressed interest in considering investing in solar panels to power town buildings.