HOULTON, Maine — By a unanimous vote, the town council approved a $10,575,616 budget for 2016 at Monday night’s special council meeting.
And while the mill rate will not be set until sometime in July, based on the figures presented during Monday evening’s meeting, no tax increase appears to be forthcoming for the third straight year. The tax rate for Houlton has remained steady for the past three years at 21.75 mills.
Town Manager Butch Asselin described the budget as a sound fiscal document that addressed the needs of the town, without having to raise taxes to cover municipal expenses. Town spending at $7,755,795 is down $140,262 (1.8 percent) from last year. That reduction comes despite the fact that a 2 percent cost of living wage adjustment was given to employees.
By lowering the amount of money set aside for the airport’s Tax Increment Finance district, the town was able to offset that wage increase and actually reduce municipal spending as a whole, Asselin said.
Unlike previous years, the town is not increasing the projected amount needed for its share of the RSU 29 budget. The board allocated $2,470,871 for RSU 29, the same amount it budgeted for last year. For the past few years, the town’s share of the RSU 29 budget has gone up steadily. In 2013, the town budgeted $2,215,030 for RSU 29, while in 2014 the amount went up to $2,449,570 and in 2015 the figure rose to $2,470,871.
“So when this figure comes in higher than what we put here, what happens then?” asked councilor John White.
Asselin stated if the RSU 29 budget — which is typically voted on in June — came in higher than anticipated, the only options would be for the town to make cuts in its municipal budget, take the money from the surplus account, or raise the money through taxation.
Councilor made few comments on the 2016 budget and made no effort to trim any portions. Councilor Wade Hanson attempted to add $8,000 to the Community Development account, but his effort failed by a vote of 1-4.
An increase of $9,000 for the Chamber of Commerce was debated briefly by the board. Chamber president Josh McLaughlin explained that the increase was due to the many additional events the Chamber has added over the years. Traditionally, the Chamber was funded at $15,000, but for 2016 that amount was increased to $24,000.
Councilor Jane Torres, who is the executive director of the Chamber of Commerce, abstained from voting on that part of the budget.
The town should have a carryover of funds not spent from the 2015 budget. Asselin said it was difficult to say exactly what that carryover would be until all of the final bills are paid for 2015. Any amount of money left over goes into the town’s fund balance (surplus) account, which now stands at $959,000. Asselin said the town’s auditor has suggested that balance should be closer to the $1.2 million level.
“I would like to think we will have some amount of money left over,” Asselin said. “At some point, we could possibly look at using some money from that balance to lower taxes or for projects. But right now, we are trying to build that fund up.”
