School budget behind mil rate increase

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Residents will see a slight increase in their tax bill, following City Council’s approval at Monday’s meeting of the final 2014 budget, which includes a 72 cents per $1,000 in valuation that was a result of this year’s increase of about $300,000 to the SAD 1 school budget.
“What’s before you shows an increase of 72 cents, related to the school budget. None of it is on the municipal side,” City Manager Jim Bennett told councilors.
“The numbers give you reflect that; everything checks out across the line,” added Lewis Cousins, the city’s new tax assessor.
Councilor Pete Hallowell questioned the possibility of postponing the tax payment due date from October to November. Finance Director Pat Webb opposed the idea.
“That would set us back millions of dollars. Our citizens have paid their taxes on Oct. 15 forever. Moving it closer to Christmas — I don’t know if I’d delay the tax bill because that money will get spent for something else,” said Webb.
“My sense is people know the bill’s coming and count on that date. Technically we’re not required to send a tax bill. There’s no requirement but it would be crappy for us to do that,” said Bennett.
“If we had a normal year and hadn’t had the landfill (work), I’d say move back. But the combination of landfill and other work, we’ve advanced a lot of cash to ourselves (the city),” he said.
“We collect about 70 percent of our revenue by Oct. 15, but we have to make payments the whole year. When you throw on top all the other unusual events, that (moving the tax payment date) would be a risky proposition,” noted Bennett.
Webb said, on average, the city collects $7-8 million each October.
Bennett explained what the increase will mean for the average homeowner.
“If they have a home whose net value is $100,000, they’ll see an increase of $72 in their taxes. That averages to about $7 per month. In theory, on that home, if you had a mortgage which included your taxes, you’d see your payment go up $7 a month. Your bank would contact you saying ‘your escrow is out of whack; you can either pay us $72 or we’ll adjust your payments,’” said Bennett, noting city officials have kept the municipal portion of the budget flat for about the past five years.
“Be it resolved that the mil rate for 2014 to be assessed against all taxable real and personal property shall be  $25.42 (per $1,000 in valuation), with $46,445 to be taken from the city’s unassigned fund balance,” said Council Chair Emily Smith. This is an increase from last year’s mil rate of 24.7, with the 2014 budget set at $13,001,750.
Councilors unanimously approved the finalized budget, with some minor adjustments, as presented.
During Monday’s meeting, councilors:
• Made adjustments to the 2014 municipal budget as follows: fire department operating budget increased $70,000 to $892,550, with fees related to the delay in adding the ambulance program at the firehouse; facilities decreased $34,800 to $77,900; police department increased $5,982 to $1,212,964; recreation department decreased $25,100 to $789,168, related to the discontinuance of the pools; employee benefits increased $982 to $1,828,464; and revenue saw a net decreased of $34,900 to $3,961,398;
• Plan to host a candidate forum on Oct. 6; and
• Tabled approval of the 2015 budget calendar until their next regular meeting.
Due to Monday, Sept. 1, being Labor Day, Council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 3, at City Hall at 6 p.m. The public is welcome and encouraged to participate. For more information, call 760-2785 or visit www.presqueislemaine.gov.