• Home
• Issues
• Green Economy
• Links
• Contact
• Need Help?

Budget Adoption FY 2011, June 23: Got your tax bill yet?

Given the fact that tax bills just went out, I want to make sure you know what we were confronted with, and what my thoughts were in trying to deal with it.

Because of lack of state revenues and subsequent lack of revenue to share, increases in health insurance, retirement, Aqua Maine charges to the city, a large increase in school taxes, and the like, we were looking at a hole in the budget of around a million dollars. We've spent two months working to stem the bleeding, and while I felt that we could have done a few things a little bit differently, I also know that this is going to be a long-term process. For example, I have been working with Energy Efficiency Committee to identify areas of cost savings for the city, and ways to implement more efficient energy systems. Believe me, there are real savings to be had. For example, check out the downtown decorative streetlights study that we just finished, here.

Maine didn't cause this recession, but, like every other state, we're having to deal with the fallout. This is the first budget that really took into account a severe lack of revenue as a result of the financial crisis on Wallstreet, the real estate bubble popping, and continued cost increases in employee benefits and utility costs.

I did my best to ask the hard questions, and it was a tough process. I still wasn't entirely satisfied with some aspects of what we had, particularly since the average property tax payer is going to be greeted with anywhere from a $150-200 increase in their tax bill, plus a $65 dollar sticker fee at Solid Waste. In the end, the main issue of the budget ended up being the Solid Waste fee system.

I had supported the concept of trying to find a way to charge for the actual amount of trash that a person throws away, or even some kind of an average amount. Clearly, the size of your house and your tax bill doesn't have much to do with how much garbage you throw away. I was willing to look at a fee based system, as long as an optional pay per bag system remained in place for our super recyclers, since pay per bag and weighing trash across the scales is the most accurate way to charge for actual trash disposal. However, as the discussion concerning the average fee system unfolded, and the costs of $105 dollars a ton tipping fee and a $65 dollar sticker were discussed, I felt that the fee was too high and would put too much pressure on businesses, and landlords attempting to dig out from the recession, let alone families. I felt that it made more sense to support a middle ground approach.

The justification for charging the $105 tipping fee and the $65 sticker fee was that in another seven or eight years, we are going to have to cap and maintain the landfill. The cost for doing this is going to be around three million dollars. The city needs to become more proactive about setting aside the money to accomplish this task, and to care for gas extraction and groundwater monitoring once the landfill is closed. Reserves have not been effectively saved to date, which is a situation that displeases many, including me. But, we have to live in the present: the only question being, how much reserve can we set aside and have the system be fair to people who are struggling? Would it be better to set less aside at first, while we are still in a recession? I felt that this would be a more sensible approach, especially since many aspects of the system had yet to be worked out, and I felt that community goodwill would be integral to the success of the project. However, my colleagues did not agree, except for Councilor Malloy.

I believe that there is still room for council to recognize that we should consider adjusting the fees downward while we get the process rolling, in order to provide some relief to an overall grim hike of taxes and fees in general, and there is still time to discuss and hear from the public before those fees are set, and I encourage you to comment, and add to the discussion.

This was a tough budget. I would have liked to have done more to clearly assess programs and the need for equipment, and to prioritize projects. However, I won't stop working toward efficiency and effective management of our resources. Please do not hesitate to call, come to council, or email with your thoughts and questions on these topics.