I am pleased to present the City Council with a proposed budget for fiscal year 2006/07 that I believe properly balances the competing needs for continued support of our municipal and educational programs and services against the ever increasing tax burden being imposed upon our residents and businesses. In spite of the genuine efforts of both state and local government leaders, Maine continues to be one of the highest taxed states in the nation, particularly when our stifling tax burden is indexed against our relatively modest incomes. The efforts of the governor and state Legislature to curb government spending and provide meaningful property tax relief through increased state funding for education, while appreciated, have achieved mixed results. Westbrook has been a significant beneficiary of the increased state funding provided under LD 1, enabling us to reduce the property tax rate by 66 cents this past year. However, we cannot predicate future local budgets on the expectation of ever increasing state funding. This is precisely why this year’s budget guidelines were based exclusively on limiting spending, allowing any additional increase in state funding to be applied to reduce the property tax.
Our continued streamlining of the municipal organization and collaborative efforts with the School Department and other communities and agencies to more cost effectively provide municipal services, have helped curb the growth of local government costs in Westbrook. However, sustained property tax relief can only be achieved through a careful combination of controlled spending, expansion of the commercial tax base and meaningful tax reform from Augusta.
In January, I met with the chair of the School Committee, superintendent of schools, city council president and city administrator and asked that they present a budget proposal for both education and municipal departments that kept spending growth at or under 4 percent. At that meeting, I received a commitment to comply with that budget guideline, provided that changes in debt service were excluded from the expenditure growth limit.
The budget I am submitting to the City Council totals $50,222,069, which reflects an increase of $1,929,667 over the current year budget and yields a growth rate of 4 percent. This translates to an increase of 92 cents in our tax rate, an increase that I am not pleased to bring forward but one that is necessary in order to continue to provide basic services to our residents. In addition to school and municipal operating expenses, this total budget figure includes debt costs, county tax, Greater Portland Transit District assessment, tax increment financing and enterprise funds, the latter two being balance accounts where expenditures and revenues offset one another for no net impact on the general fund budget. This budget does not eliminate or reduce any existing services, meets all contractual obligations with our public employees and provides funding to complete a much overdue property revaluation within the next two year.
Limiting school and municipal operating budgets presented significant challenges this year given the many areas of rising costs that impact these budgets. The 4 percent growth limitation on the municipal portion of the budget limited expenditure growth to $569,586. To remain within this growth guideline we had to find ways to manage such cost increases as:
Wage increases $184,365
City-wide property revaluation $180,000
Health insurance $167,847
4 new full-time firefighter/paramedic positions $117,014
Gasoline, diesel and heating fuel increases $110,000
Trash disposal fees $61,250
Total $820,476
Just these six categories presented cost increases that total $820,476 exceeding the 4 percent growth factor by $250,890 without considering any other areas of the municipal budget.
Any budget process is an exercise in prioritizing our collective needs, wants and the ability of all of our citizens to pay the bill for these local programs and services. In order to comply with what I believe are essential spending guidelines, this budget does not include everything I wanted to be able to provide to the community. When you prioritize, you have to make difficult choices. Inevitably, everyone cannot get everything they want. Let me give you a couple specific examples of items that I wanted to see included in the budget that simply did not survive the final cuts.
I was not able to increase staffing in our police department, even though I believe there is a crucial need to expand and improve our law enforcement efforts in such areas as crime prevention, the apprehension of those in our city who choose to break the law and traffic and speed enforcement throughout our city. I do, however, have a commitment from the police chief to continue his department’s efforts to find more effective ways to manage and deploy our existing personnel to better address these issues in our community.
This budget does not reinstate any form of heavy trash collection, something I had hoped to address this year. The public services director, working with our trash-hauling contractor, has developed a limited heavy trash collection service that could be implemented at a relatively reasonable cost. It is my hope, that the upcoming budget review process may identify some additional savings that could be reallocated to fund this valuable service, particularly for those of our residents who simply don’t have the means to provide this service for themselves.
Finally, this budget does not include a specific plan to reduce our trash volume and disposal cost – which this year has increased in excess of $60,000 – through the introduction of a curbside recycling service. While the City Council and administration appear to fully agree on the need for and the goals of such a program my previous efforts to establish a user-funded recycling program have resulted in extensive debate, research and analysis of program options, but unfortunately no results. The need and immediate economic benefits of an effective recycling program in Westbrook are well documented and such a service for our residents is well past due. While I am fully committed to making this happen now, I am equally opposed to such a service placing an increased burden on our already strapped property tax payers. I am hopeful that working with the City Council and municipal staff through this budget process will enable us to craft an appropriate program for Westbrook to be implemented in the coming year.
I am eager to present and review this financial plan with the Finance Committee in the coming weeks. The committee will begin its budget meetings on Saturday, May 6t from 8 a.m. to noon, followed by meetings on Monday, May 8, Tuesday, May 9 and Thursday, May 11 from 6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. All meetings will be held in room 114 at Westbrook High School, are open to the public and will be telecast live on cable TV Channel 3. I am also eager to hear from you, the taxpayers of our community, with any thoughts or suggestions you may have as we work through the 2006/07 budget process.
Bruce L. Chuluda, Mayor
Westbrook
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