PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — True to the goal of not raising property taxes, the Presque Isle City Council adopted a 2018 budget Monday leaving the municipal portion of the tax rate at the same amount.
The councilors passed a $14.4 million budget Monday night with a tax commitment of $13.49 million and an assessment of $25.6 per $1,000 of property value, the same as 2017. The tax rate does not include county and school district taxes, which will be determined next summer before property taxes are due.
City Manager Martin Puckett and staff were able to find more than $200,000 in savings in the adopted budget compared to a budget proposal presented in October.
The late-found savings came from reduced costs and elimination of spending items in a range of different departments, including $52,000 less in the employee benefits category, partly from lower health insurance costs. The budget also removed $51,000 in capital reserves earmarked for the city hall renovation, $40,000 in per diem spending at the fire department, and $2,600 in tuition reimbursement at the police department.
City councillors said they were happy to vote for the budget without a tax increase and also wanted to continue looking for ways to reduce spending or increase revenue in the New Year.
Councillor Kevin Freeman, who wrapped up his first year on the council, said he spent some time trying to find additional savings beyond the flat budget but couldn’t find more than $40,000 to $60,000 in savings without reducing city services.
“There isn’t enough there to cut that deeply unless we take some public services away,” Freeman said. “A flat tax rate is better than a tax hike.”
Councillor Mike Chasse supported the budget and said in the future he’d like to examine revenue and spending data of different city departments and programs, such as The Forum, the city-operated ice rink and entertainment venue.
“I do think that in looking through the budget that we’ve seen a few things, like possibly The Forum, that we need to dig into deeper to see where money is being earned and where it is being spent and how we can make that a more revenue-neutral item.”
In other news, the city councilors voted to adopt Erskine Street as a public way, as part of an agreement with a property owner paving the way for a new, unspecified development.
Built in the mid-1980s off of Academy Street near the intersection of Conant Road and Route 10, Erskine Street has been maintained and plowed by the Public Works Department, said public works director Dana Fowler. The agreement with the owner includes the owner covering the cost of a drainage culvert, Fowler said.
