By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Nearly a year after beginning the budget process, Caribou City Councilors approved their city budget for 2013 at $8,894,532.
Last year’s actual expenditures totaled $9,156,014 — putting the newly proposed budget closer to the city’s actual expenditures back in 2010 when it spent $8,861,056. But unlike that 2010 budget, which included roughly $1 million in state revenue sharing, the current 2013 budget included $710,000 through the state revenue sharing program.
“I want to commend management and staff on helping us through this year’s budget,” Councilor Kenneth Murchison said at the conclusion of the special meeting on June 27, when the council approved the numbers once-and-for-all. “I think there’s some who think we didn’t cut enough and probably some who think we cut too much — which means we probably did our job this year,” he said.
Murchison’s sentiment received a smiling “second” from councilor Joan Theriault.
Attached to the finalized budget is a new mil rate for Caribou, set at 20.5.
For homeowners with property valued at $75,000, the rate hike from 19.3 to 20.5 mils will mean an additional $90 on their 2013 tax bill (from $1,448 to $1,538.)
As the council adjourned from their under-10-minute special meeting, they reminded the community that Thursdays on Sweden — a new downtown community celebration — would be starting up at 5:30 p.m.
The next meeting of the Caribou City Council will take place on Monday, July 8 at 7 p.m. in the Caribou City Council Chambers.
