Editor’s note: the following is a statement issued by the Westbrook City Council to residents detailing the Westbrook city budget.
Each year, the city sends out its tax bills without explaining to you, the taxpayer, how the tax rate was determined. This year, we decided to change that. We think you deserve to understand how the city’s budget was put together and what went into determining the tax rate.
Assembling the budget is a months-long process that begins with the mayor and the department heads on the city side, and the teachers, principals, superintendent and, ultimately, the school board on the school side. When the mayor presented his combined city and school budget to the City Council, it contained a tax increase of 92 cents, which was a 4 percent increase from this year’s budget. We then went to work and scrutinized each department’s proposed budget. There were many items we would have liked to include in the budget-increased staffing at Walker Memorial Library for example-but could not justify the cost. By making the difficult decisions and with the assistance of the administration, the school board and the school department, we were able to reduce the proposed tax increase to 77 cents, a 16 percent reduction from the mayor’s proposed budget. Crucial to this was the school department’s aggressive work to obtain more school funding from the state of Maine, all of which we used to reduce the tax rate.
No one is happy with a tax increase, especially after the hard work done last year to achieve a tax cut. But the vast majority of that 77 cent increase is because of wage increases required by union contracts, the increasing cost of health insurance, and the skyrocketing cost of gas and fuel. Another obstacle which prevented us from realizing our goal of a tax cut was declining city revenue, which was down again this year by approximately $350,000. Declining revenues and increasing costs is a pattern that cannot continue.
There are success stories in this budget that we are proud of. While cutting the proposed tax increase by 16 percent, we were still able to (1) restore a revised system of big trash pick-up, (2) provide additional part-time workers in the clerk’s office to better serve all of you, and (3) restore the marketing and promotional funds cut in the mayor’s budget. We fully funded the economic director’s request for marketing and promotional funds so he has the tools to go after new businesses and bring them to Westbrook. These funds are an investment in our future. The best way to increase revenue and take the burden off all of us residential taxpayers is to diversify the tax base by growing the businesses we have and attracting new ones. This is also the best way to break that pattern of declining city revenues and increasing costs.
We did not include curbside recycling in this year’s budget because RWS may be changing its recycling process, which would reduce the number of recycling bins that would be needed at each house. Instead of buying too many bins this year, we decided to wait another year to see what RWS does. In the meantime, we have formed a Citizens’ Recycling and Solid Waste Committee to investigate and report back to us on different ways we can improve our recycling and solid waste disposal. A number of citizens have already stepped forward to join this committee. If you are interested in serving, please let us one of us know.
We thank the mayor, the superintendent, the school board, the department heads, the principals, the teachers and all the city and school staff for all the work they did on this budget. We thank all of you who participated in the budget process. We look forward to continuing to work with them and with you to move this great city forward. As always, if you have any questions about the budget or the tax rate, do not hesitate to contact one of us. It is our honor and privilege to serve as your city councilors.
Brendan Rielly, City Council president and Ward 1 city councilor
Ed Symbol, Ward 3 city councilor and Finance Committee chair
John O’Hara, City Councilor-at-large
Michael Foley, City Councilor-at-large
Drew Gattine, Ward 2 City Councilor
Dottie Aube, Ward 4 City Councilor
Suzanne Joyce, Ward 5 City Councilor
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