HOULTON, Maine — If the initial indications hold true, taxes in Houlton should remain stable for another year.
That was the message put forth by the Houlton Town Council Monday evening during a special workshop. The board met to find additional areas to trim from the 2014 municipal budget in order to prevent a tax increase.
Interim Town Manager Butch Asselin presented the council with a plan to take $100,000 from the Roads 2000 account and suggested reducing the town’s airport TIF (Tax Increment Finance) district to 66 percent, which would free up an additional $30,855 to ensure taxes remain at last year’s level.
The Roads 2000 account has been funded at $200,000 in recent years. Last year, the town used $180,000 from that account to fix roads, leaving a carryover of $20,000. So far this year, the town has only spent $5,000 from the account.
In addition to taking $100,000 from the Roads 2000 account, Asselin also suggested using another $50,000 from that account to purchase two new vehicles for the highway department. The two vehicles are needed to replace two older trucks that have significant rusting problems and are no longer safe to drive.
This plan would leave about $65,000 in the road account to fix any emergencies that may come up.
In so doing, the town would be able to increase its overlay account in the current budget to about $153,000. Those funds would be added to the fund balance (surplus) at the end of the fiscal year. The town’s fund balance is presently about $507,000, but Asselin said auditors have regularly suggested that the town should have at least $1 million in its coffers to cover three months of operating expenses.
“We are slowly getting to where we should be with our fund balance,” Asselin said.
The current tax rate for Houlton is $21.75, which means a home valued at $100,000 is assessed a yearly tax bill of $2,175.
Some councilors expressed reservations about taking money from the Roads 2000 account, which in essence means several paving projects would be put on hold for a year.
“The million dollar question is ‘Are we delaying the inevitable next year?’” Chairman Paul Cleary said. “Are there other things we can do this year to prevent that?”
Councilors Sue Tortello, Wade Hanson and John White expressed reservations about taking funds from the roads account to help balance the budget, stating they did not want to see the town fall behind in its regular maintenance schedule.
“How many years ago was it that we had to take out a million dollar bond (to fix roads)?” White asked. “With only $65,000 we are not going to be able to get much done. This is just slapping a Band-Aid on the budget. We’re not cutting anything.”
Cleary asked his fellow councilors if there were any other areas of the budget they would like to trim, but received no suggestions from anyone on the board.
“Truthfully, we are barebones,” Asselin said. “Any more reductions and we would have to start looking at cutting services.”
The suggested moves will be discussed further at the next regular council meeting, scheduled for Monday, July 14 at 6 p.m.
