CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou City Council gave first-reads and updates on several important municipal issues, including the town’s mill rate, a local bid preference and a change to its budgetary system during its meeting on Monday, May 4.
The measures, some of which voters need to approve before they are enacted, would alter the city’s budget system and create a new economic environment for businesses throughout the city during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though the council will not vote on a mill rate until June, there was continued discussion on shifting the city’s tax rate down one mill, from $24.55 per $1,000 of evaluated property to $23.55.
Mayor Mark Goughan, who stated he is in support of the measure, said it was a way to use more than $400,000 in new city revenue to increase business within Caribou.
“You’ll find it’s the business people, men and women, who are really paying the big part of the pie in regard to our tax dollars,” Goughan said.
But City Manager Dennis Marker seemed more skeptical that the city could afford to lower the mill rate given the current pandemic. While the city is expected to generate more than $400,000 in new revenue this year, he said there could be drops in revenue from state sources because of decreased economic activity.
Despite skepticism from Marker and future economic uncertainty because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Goughan said he would not let the mill rate issue “go away.”
“This is the reason I ran for city government,” Goughan said. “We can run [the city] better for less cost.”
The council held a first-read on a local preference standard for bid submittals. Under the resolution, the council could award local vendors over non-local ones regardless of bid amount if the local company can provide equivalent services and meets the specifications of the bid request.
Caribou City Councilor Doug Morrell said the measure was necessary because of two past council decisions to award contracts to out-of-city businesses over capable local ones on roof and electrical work.
“To me, as a contractor, that would be an insult, to lose a bid for $1,000 to someone out in Bangor while I’m here and paying a lot of taxes,” Morrell said.
Morrell suggested a tiered system for bids: the council would give a 2 percent preference to Caribou vendors for projects less than $10,000, 1 percent plus a dollar for projects between $10,000 to $1 million and half a percent plus $5,100 for projects exceeding $1 million.
The council did not vote on the resolution and Marker said it would consider it again when it next meets on May 18.
The council also presented a first-read on two new changes to budget matters — both of which Caribou voters would need to approve in a referendum after approval from the council.
The first measure would alter the charter to change when the Caribou City Council adopts new budgets, shifting the budget process from an October-December timeframe to November-March.
Under the new process, councilors elected to the board in November elections would have a far greater say in the final budget, which would need to be adopted by the third Monday of March rather than by the currently mandated Dec. 15.
The primary advantage of deciding the expense budget in March instead of December is that more “reliable” data on projected revenue will be available to councilors by that time, said Marker.
Under this plan, the previous year’s budget would be in place proportionally into the new year until the council adopts a new budget.
The second ordinance would allow the council to amend capital and expense budgets in April based on calculated revenue projections at that time. This power would be especially useful in cases when the city receives more revenue than expected.
However, Goughan said that adoption of the budget scheduling change would make the passage of this measure superfluous.
The council did not take votes on either measure on Monday. Goughan said he hopes he and the council have the opportunity to hear from residents about their potential adoption.
