Are taxes on the rise in Houlton?

HOULTON, Maine — When the Houlton Town Council sets the municipal tax rate at the end of July, a tax increase is a possibility, according to statements made at Monday night’s council meeting.
Council chairman Paul Cleary said he was working with Interim Town Manager Cathy O’Leary and Treasurer Nedra Hanson to see if there was any way to avoid raising taxes, following the approval of the SAD 29 school budget by voters last week.
    “Right now, the early indication is a half-mill to a one-mill increase because of numerous situations, but the biggest is the school budget,” Cleary said. “[The allocation of] $200,000 to the school may not sound like a lot of money, but when we don’t have it in our fund balance, it is a lot of money.”
Because the town and school operate on different fiscal cycles, only half of the 2012-13 school budget increase impacts the current municipal budget. The remaining half will be applied to next year’s municipal budget.
“The next (municipal) budget may be even worse,” Cleary said. “We could be looking at another two to three mills next year. We need to get serious as a council. We can beg and plead with the school, but it doesn’t do any good.”
The value of one mill depends on a person’s assed value of their home. For example, a person with a home assessed at $100,000 pays $100 for each mill the town sets. Last year’s mill rate for Houlton was 18.95, which means the home assessed at $100,000 results in $1,895 in property taxes.
Cleary suggested the council have a workshop meeting with its department heads to see if there were any areas that could be trimmed before the start of the next budget cycle to help alleviate the tax impact.
“I, as a taxpayer, can’t afford any more taxes,” Cleary said. “There are a lot of people in this town who can’t. People are putting their homes up for sale and moving to apartments. It’s a sad message.”
Councilor Rob Hannigan agreed.
“I think we should sit down and talk,” he said. “What surprised me is that there was only about 500 people who voted (on the school budget). That is really sad.”
Council Mike Jenkins said it was unfair to blame the entire tax increase on the school budget.
“I thought we should have budgeted more for the school, but I was assured that we were all set,” Jenkins said. “We will have to look at ways to cut. But I fear time is too short (for the current fiscal year), unless we slash and burn in the next month.”
Councilor John White noted he was the only councilor who opposed the municipal budget when the council voted on it.
“In the last year I voted ‘no’ on several spending items,” White said. “When I voted ‘no’ on the budget, I said it was because the school figure (that the town estimated) was too low. I think we need to look at every single thing we spend money on and ask ourselves, ‘can we get by a year without this?’”
In other agenda items, the council:
• Ratified the general government union contract for 2011-14, retroactive for the 2011 year. The contract has no wage increase for 2011, 2 percent for 2012 and 2013, and a 50-50 share of all future increases in the health insurance premiums.
• Accepted an award of $500 from the Houlton Lodge of Elks to be used for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program.
• Received a gift of $100 from Kelsey Sewell, a child from Houlton, who donated the money to be used toward the purchase of new playground equipment at the Just for Kids playground. Sewell raised the money from a lemonade stand.
• Approved a low bid of $13,960 to Furniture and Floors North of Houlton for carpeting at Cary Memorial Library.
• Councilor Jenkins asked that the topic of creating a social networking policy for town employees be added to the next agenda for discussion.
The next regular council meeting is set for Monday, July 9 at 6:30 p.m. in the council chambers.