HOULTON, Maine — Houlton town councilors were faced with an “uncertain fiscal future” after being presented with the town manager’s first fiscal budget for 2008 last Tuesday, Nov. 13.
Increases in road projects and decreases in other projects were on the forefront of the discussion and Town Manager Doug Hazlett told councilors that the necessary improvements to the town’s roads could no longer be neglected.
Hazlett briefly went over the 30-page proposed budget, which is also being presented to the Board of Budget Review, and in his opinion, the town’s streets should take top priority in major projects. An estimated $150,000 is being recommended for street repairs, while other budget increases seem unavoidable. Those increases include the rising electricity and fuel rates, as well as increases in county tax and SAD 29.
“All in all, this is a budget that I believe is fairly conservative, which has got some big ticket items in it,” said Hazlett. “A lot of this is highly dependant upon where the schools are going; it’s highly dependant upon where our revenues continue to develop because when it comes time to do the commitment we have two things — we could have more revenue than we anticipated, which would be very beneficial and we could be building enough fund balance so that we could use some surplus to help offset the mill rate.”
Councilors posed questions regarding the town manager’s figures. Hazlett said overall, he felt the numbers were tight. Hazlett also pointed out that there was approximately $143,000 worth of projects that could not be funded next year due to the discussed increases; however, he felt the town could go one more year without addressing them.
A few smaller projects totally $60,000 did make the list for next year, which included: $31,000 for a payloader; $2,700 for a library alarm; $8,700 for police computer upgrades; $3,600 for the civic center water softener and $14,000 for the library furnace asbestos removal.
The funding for the library furnace was added due to a donation from a local contributor to replace the library’s existing furnace, but only if the town agrees to pay for the asbestos removal. Hazlett said the investment should be made.
“I personally think this is a good deal for the town because we are responsible for the building (Cary Library) and this would be a cost that we would have to face in the years to come,” explained Hazlett.
Other items that Hazlett touched base on were the projects that would not be funded next year. Among them were the second half of the Gentle Memorial Building’s gym floor replacement — $50,000; Roads 2000 — an additional $75,000; repairs to the Gentle Memorial Building’s rear stairs — $5,000; additional funds to erect Ward park building — $10,000; and the replacement of the second half of the fire department’s mattresses — $3,500. Those items total more than $143,000.
“I am OK with not funding these at this point,” said Hazlett. “I think that in consideration of what the impact of the budget would be, we can live without these for a year.”
The total 2008 revenue projection is $8,088,282 — a $261,607 increase from 2007. The total budget recommendation for 2008 is $8,531,685 — a $376,083 increase from 2007.
The next town council meeting is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 26 at 6:30 p.m.
