HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Council approved a nearly $12 million budget for 2021 during a special meeting Monday night. Councilors approved all recommended budget appropriations.
The vote was taken after hearing from the public who tuned in on Zoom.
The final budget, which is close to $12 million, was raised slightly by the council from the original Board of Budget Review recommendation after the council opted to give an additional $100,000 for roads in a budget meeting on Dec. 16.
The budget is an increase from the 2020 town budget, which was placed at $11.4 million.
At the public hearing on Jan. 4, the council passed most of its originally intended appropriations, with one exception — the council voted to give $2,500 to the Aroostook County Historical Art Museum, instead of withholding the funding this year as was initially decided.
“We hire an intern through the summer with that money,” said Henry Gartley, president of the museum who attended the hearing. “We’re very conservative with it, and it allows us to keep [the museum] open through the summer months.”
Though the museum was closed last summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it continued with its intern program and hopes to open to the public this coming summer.
Another motion, put forth by Councilor Sue Tortello, would have reduced the road budget back down to its original $200,000, eliminating the $100,000 increase, but this was rejected by other council members.
While the budget this year is an increase from last year, council member Dennis Harmon used a closing statement to warn that Houlton’s aging and declining population may mean lower tax revenues in coming years.
“We’re going to have to start making these decisions of ‘are we looking to consolidate services or looking to cut services?’,” Harmon said. “Those are all choices that we’re going to have to make at some point in time, or you’re going to tax yourself out of existence.”
