HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Council gave consensus approval Monday evening to an $11.1 million budget for 2019.
With little discussion, the councilors approved the proposed budget in about 15 minutes. The spending plan will now go to a public hearing, where residents can pose questions on each line in the budget beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 7.
“We always try to put together a flat budget,” Interim Town Manager Cathy O’Leary said. “But we also have to recognize the needs of the town and keeping our level of services the same.”
The budget committee was presented the spending plan in November and spent several meetings going through each department’s requests. David Gates, chairman of the Board of Budget Review, said he felt the proposed budget would not have a negative impact on the town’s tax rate.
Municipal spending is up $254,337 from last year, which would have resulted in about a half-mill increase to the tax rate. In order to prevent that increase, though, the town plans to take $231,000 from its undesignated fund balance. There is currently $1,716,182 in the town’s reserve account.
The actual tax rate, however, will not be determined until firm numbers for the RSU 29 budget and County Tax are provided. The school budget is not finalized until June.
Much of that $254,337 increase in municipal spending is due to an increase in the town’s roads account of $100,000. The town has funded its roads account at $200,000 for the past several years, but occasionally had to dip into that account to cover other expenses. This year, the town plans to allocate $300,000 for roads in an effort to repave as many town streets as possible.
The Capital Projects account also went from $5,000 to $49,000 to allow the town to do repairs to Elm Street, near the Millar Civic Center. Those funds are separate from the roads account.
The budget also includes a 1.5 percent salary increase for employees. Last year, councilors approved a 2 percent salary increase.
Council Bill McCluskey said one of the reasons Monday night’s budget meeting went so smoothly was because all seven members of the board attended every Board of Budget Review meeting.
Councilor Sue Tortello thanked members of that board for volunteering to serve and lauded the town’s department heads for providing thorough information.
“We have some department heads that really care about this town,” Tortello said. “I also want to thank the board. These are all volunteers who come out at the busiest time of the year and devote their time to do it.”
