HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Council gave the public its first glimpse at the proposed budget for the 2022 fiscal year, although the exact funding for every town item is yet to be released.
The proposed budget for the year is priced at $11.8 million, representing a $101,000 or a 0.86 percent increase from 2021. It’s a much smaller increase than in fiscal year 2021, which had an approved budget that was $1 million higher than in 2020.
Town Manager Marian Anderson said she did not want to represent the entirety of the budget just yet, as the town was still putting its books together. Further information on the budget items will be released as the year draws to a close and hearings on the budget begin.
“What you have here is a very broad brush presentation,” Anderson said. “We’ll look forward to further discussion when we start our hearings in December.”
In the overview given to council members at Monday’s meeting, it was estimated that of the proposed budget, $3 million would go toward protection services such as police, fire and ambulance departments; $1.5 million would go toward public services; and $787,000 would go toward general government. An additional $77,985 would go toward funding Houlton International Airport.
Councilor Dennis Harmon noted that the funding for the Houlton ambulance, which is listed at approximately $783,000, may not be truly determined yet. Houlton receives some of its funding for ambulance services by billing other towns in southern Aroostook County that use its services. After a steep increase in rates for last year’s budget, the other southern Aroostook towns have vied to build their own separate service, and no longer pay Houlton to use theirs.
“I’d like to see our numbers based on what we actually receive, not what we bill,” Harmon said.
Preliminary public hearings on the budget are set to begin in December, with exact dates to be determined at a later council meeting.
