HOULTON, Maine — The town’s board of budget review has been handed a fiscal proposal that is about $53,000 higher than the current year, according to the interim town manager.
The budget panel begins meeting on Nov. 29 to review and recommend any changes to the proposed budget of $10,743,291.
Interim Town Manager Cathy O’Leary told town councilors on Nov. 13 that significant increases for 2018 were $35,000 for the county budget, $26,000 for an increase to the Houlton Water Company hydrant program, plus an additional 12 percent increase for water department accounts and $36,344 for workers compensation. The town also must allocate $8,000 for other insurances and pay $35,699 to the Maine Municipal Health Trust. The municipality has $260,360 of general obligation debt remaining as of January 2018 and $1.3 million in tax increment financing debt, according to figures provided by the town.
County Administrator Ryan Pelletier said that the town should budget a 10 percent increase for the county tax into their budget for next year.
By ordinance, the town is supposed to budget about $140,000 per year for special projects, but officials have not adhered to that in the past due to budget constraints. Because the account has not been fully funded, infrastructure and equipment upgrades have not been taken care of, according to O’Leary. She told councilors that the project list under the long range plan had continued to grow without any means to address the projects.
O’Leary told councilors that it might be a good time to look into the possibility of taking out another bond to begin to address the town’s infrastructure needs. Since the town will pay off one of its building loans in 2018, she suggested considering a loan of $280,000.
She also said that money needed to be set aside for an anticipated town wide revaluation in 2020-2021 which will cost approximately $250,000.
O’Leary also said that very little money had been spent from the town’s surplus account. The balance as of December 2016 was $1,606,013, while in March 2017 $39,804 was approved to be taken from the account in order to hire an additional employee. That left $1.566,209, according to O’Leary.
