Next year’s municipal spending is set and the town’s debt paid off after Bridgton residents approved a $5.57 million budget June 11.
The largest spending categories in the town budget were $1.87 million for administration and $1.86 for public works.
Town spending showed a 6.04 percent increase in the approved budget, which Town Manager Mitchell Berkowitz has attributed to increased prices for fuel, sand and salt; a new pay scale for police officers and dispatchers and capital expenditures such as sewer renovations and single sort recycling equipment.
The tax rate is expected to rise from $11.45 per $1,000 of valued property to $12.07. The town portion of the tax rate will show a 2.74 percent increase from $3.29 to $3.38. The county portion of the new tax rate is estimated at $.55 and the school share is expected to be $8.14.
According to Selectman Robert Woodward the only question that got any real discussion was the move to single sort recycling. The proposed budget included $102,000 in equipment costs for the transfer station to collect and ship the town’s recycling to the ecomaine facility in Portland. There was an unsuccessful motion to lower that line item to $15,000. After much discussion, the expenditure passed as proposed.
“We really didn’t have a lot of contentious things,” Woodward said Monday, adding that some people asked about a decrease in administrative employee benefits and insurances but selectmen clarified that they were not planning to lay off personnel, they just got a better deal.
Residents passed a more than $86,000 increase to the police and dispatch budgets, which Woodward said resulted from a contract the town signed with the union in December to bring salaries up to median levels.
Berkowitz said police and dispatch salaries were paid at the new, increased levels retroactively with money from the ending fiscal year budget. Since this expense wasn’t included in the police and dispatch line items, there appears to be a larger jump in the budget than actually is the case, Berkowitz said.
Capital expenditures, which totaled more than $679,000, were up by more than $104,000. These expenses included $15,000 for energy conservation in the municipal building, $60,000 for replacing the Depot Street bridge, more than $192,000 for sewer renovations and more than $30,000 for a new roof for the fire station.
The town also paid off the last $67,000 of its debt. Berkowitz expects the town to remain debt free until they complete the lease/purchase of a new fire truck sometime between October 2008 and February 2009.
Residents approved a $450,000 transfer from the undesignated fund balance to reduce taxes. Berkowitz said around $1.9 million will remain in savings, enough to operate the town for two months.
The last article to exceed the state limit on property tax was unnecessary, Berkowitz said.
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