Revenues, surplus offset $800K increase
CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou’s 2017 budget may be roughly $800,000 more than last year’s, but incoming revenue and monies carried over from 2016 may nullify any increase to the current 22.90 mill rate.
Despite this addition, Bleess said there “should not be an increase in dollars collected on property taxes for city operations,” adding that RSU 39 and Aroostook County taxes are also factored into the mill rate, and that it could still rise.
According to documentation on the City of Caribou website, the approved budget for 2016 was $8,814,122. As of Nov. 25, the 2017 budget request was $9,631,211. Caribou City Manager Austin Bleess said that, while this request may not specifically reflect the budget increase, the added amount will be approximately $800,000.
On Nov. 28, City Council approved the 2017 General Fund expense budget, the 2017 Capital Improvement budget, and the 2017 Enterprise Funds expense budgets, with a few changes to wage and classification.
Adjustments made to city employee salaries are based on an Maine Municipal Association salary survey that revealed, in Maine communities with a population between 6,000 and 10,000 the average salary is higher than what Caribou currently pays. As a result, city salaries will reflect this average next year.
Bleess further explained the wage alterations during a phone interview on Dec. 5.
“People who have worked three or more years will have their salaries brought up to the average,” Bleess said. “Three years will be the midpoint, which is the average. Everybody’s salary is adjusted so that the three-year point is average with comparable communities. Those who have been here longer will be at the average and those here less than three years will be slightly below. It all depends on years of service.”
According to the city manager, approximately $90,000 will increase next year’s budget to bring all non-union employees in every city department up to the average.
“Everyone’s salary (at the three year point) will be based on going rate in the market for their position,” Bless added.
Before approving the budget, Mayor Gary Aiken suggested roughly $22,000 in budget cuts. Aiken based his proposal on money that was unspent in certain departments for the past five years.
“I must say I checked out the charter and there’s nothing in there that says we can’t have lower taxes than before,” Aiken said. “Don’t be afraid of taking anything out for lower taxes. All the items I have on here are ones where we have never spent the amount we had in the budget, year after year.”
Aiken’s cuts would affect Public Works, the Police Department, the Fire and Ambulance Department, and the Recreation Department.
All aforementioned department heads were present during the Nov. 28 meeting, and said they could justify the need for their full budget requests.
Public Works Director Dave Ouellette said that the proposed $4,000 reduction to his department could “be burnt in two truckloads when paving in the summer.”
Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan made a case for keeping the $2,500 that Aiken suggested cutting from his department.
“For medical expenses, I now have to pay for all state lab drug testing for any drug seizure that we have,” said Gahagan. “It’s a minimum of $150 per test, and $500 if I send it out of state. We haven’t had to pay for that in the past.”
The mayor asked Gahagan about police vehicle repair expenses.
“We have one vehicle coming in December,” Gahagan said. “I have one with 232,000 miles and one with 145,000. We thought we were getting two new vehicles but one didn’t come through.”
Aiken said he proposed some of the cuts based on previous information that the police were acquiring two, as opposed to one, new vehicle, since repair costs wouldn’t be as high. He added that he will take back any cuts if there is a justification for the request.
“I can justify all of what we put out,” Gahagan said. “I have a sergeant going to training in Portland for a week, which will take care of mileage and travel expenses just for that one officer. We haven’t had the luxury of sending anyone else to academy because we haven’t had extra officers.”
Fire Chief Scott Susi was also present to justify the need for $9,000 that would have otherwise been slashed from his annual budget.
“For training, education, and travel, we’re sending three to fire officer school,” Susi said. “All the pennies and dollars on those lines are added up to travel. I have six people next year and three getting ready to go in. We’re also training EMTs and need to have have help on board while putting money away for those classes.”
Aiken asked Chief Susi if he checks the Defense Logistics Agency website for fire trucks.
“I’m on there four to five times a week,” Susi said. “I looked at the opportunity to get a new ladder, but it won’t fit in our building. So with one size that’s not very popular, it’s hard to find anything under the 10- to 15-year-old line.”
Susi also stressed the importance of needing a temporary replacement during lengthy repairs, which can take up to half a year.
Councilor David Martin asked Parks and Recreation Superintendent Gary Marquis how much his department pays for copier usage, as Aiken proposed a $1,000 cut to their copier rental budget.
“We are at $56 a month because we pay a monthly fee,” said Marquis. “We still haven’t utilized the copier we have now. It’s 10 years old but it functions.”
“We’re looking to replace it with a new copier from a local business so we’re not operating on 10-year-old equipment and can begin using something quicker and more efficient,” added City Manager Bleess.
Councilor McDougall disagreed with the proposed cuts from the start, saying that “all the managers have provided justification for each line item like they do every year.”
“All I’m saying is that for five years we’ve never spent that amount,” Aiken said. “The figures I suggested are based on the most we’ve ever spent in any one year for the last five years. To me, that says the budget has been wrong for the past five years.”
All councilors passed the budget, with changes to wage classification and without the aforementioned cuts, unanimously.
