City’s side of the tax bill shows no increase for 2015

    CARIBOU, Maine — City Council disagreed on more than a few things this budget season — some discussions more spirited than others — they unanimously approved an expense budget of $8,855,829 during a special meeting Monday. The approved expense plan will not increase taxes for Caribou citizens — not from the city’s side, that is.
“We hit the target … no tax increase,” said Councilor Philip McDonough II. “That’s the first one in three years.”
The 2015 expense budget is $183,638 higher than last year, but City Manager Austin Bleess explained that increased revenues offset the added expenses, allowing the same property tax amount from residents.
Last year’s mil rate held true for the city’s side of the budget, but there are two other variables in the tax bill equation — the RSU 39  and County budgets. City Councilor Kenneth Murchison informed his fellow councilors that County officials already voted to flat-fund their spending, and Mayor Gary Aiken commented that it was time to put pressure on the other entities’ budgets.
“Now all we have to do is put a lot of pressure on our local school board and County and hopefully … Caribou might get by this year with no tax increase,” Aiken commented.
While the approved expense budget was only $11 more than the proposed budget presented in early November, it included a few major differences in how those funds were distributed.
Originally, the budget cut the position of a police officer, a public works employee and a member of the library staff. The new budget maintains the police officer position, reduces one public works position to seasonal and affords a part-time library position, as opposed to the three eliminated positions.
Keeping those positions in various capacities, however, came from making cuts elsewhere in the budget — like the removal of $20,000 that was slated for raises.
Though the councilors disagreed on how the city should fund many items, the approved expense budget was something Aiken feels “everybody seems to be at least happy with it right now to some degree.”
“We kept most of the people, some of them only part-time, some of them full-time, some of them filling in, but I think we’re on the right track, and thanks to the administration for all the background work that was done initially,” the mayor commented. “That gave us a good starting point in this budget and carried it through to the no tax increase.”
The next meeting of the Caribou City Council is scheduled for Monday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m. in the city councilors’ chambers.