Town officials may be facing some tough budget decisions for 2014

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MILO — With the possibility of reduced revenue sharing from the state, the rise in costs for many goods and services and other factors impacting the town budget, Milo officials are looking to get feedback from the public as the spending plan for 2014 is developed.

    Next year’s budget — the budget committee held their first meeting on Oct. 2 — may include a reduction or elimination of some town services, and this possibility was the focus of an approximate hour and a half public hearing on Oct. 1.
    “The board and members of the budget committee are very concerned where we are for this financial year,” Town Manager David Maynard said at the start of the hearing. In July the selectmen approved a mil rate of $20.35 for every $1,000 in assessed property, less than the figure of $21.10 that was brought to the board which led to some cuts in the current budget. Maynard said the finances could be even tighter in 2014.
    “We are looking at two major issues tonight relative to the budget,” Maynard said. He said Milo could be receiving $116,000 less from the state in revenue sharing programs, or as much as $300,000 less in a worse case scenario, and the town is also watching how the bankruptcy proceedings for the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway play out. Milo would still likely get tax payments from the bankruptcy rulings, but the payment is not guaranteed and could also be received late.
    “$57,000 in taxes are involved in that, for the next year there is a very real possibility we will see the tax revenue again” Maynard said, adding that he was unable to speak about the bankruptcy negotiations at the present time.
    The town manager explained there are two bills in the Legislature, with one proposing to restore all lost revenue to Maine communities and the other aimed at eliminating the revenue sharing programs entirely. “Which one wins is anyone’s guess,” Maynard said, adding that there is not a bill seeking a middle ground and a decision may not be reached until the spring or early summer.
    “We cannot rely on that being reality,” he said about revenues being fully restored. “What we have to look at is what are those key services you, the public, want us to provide,” he said.
    “I’m going to say up front as the town manager I don’t like any of these choices,” Maynard said. He said some possibilities could be to have reductions in all or most town services or eliminate or drastically reduce what is offered elsewhere in town.
    Maynard then gave a brief synopsis of over a half dozen town departments in light of the budget possibilities. He said about 75 percent of the cemetery budget is covered through property tax revenues and “there are those that will contend the library is not an essential part of the community,” adding that in other jobs he has had once a library has been closed such a facility does not come back. Privatizing curbside trash pickup would mean residents would pay a fee, Maynard said in describing another town service.
    “We have a very good recreation program here, there are those who feel recreation is a luxury the town doesn’t need,” Maynard said in describing some of the different thoughts on the department. He added that recreation programs do keep some youth out of trouble, and cutting these could mean an increase to the police department budget to handle some of the increase in incidents they respond to.
    He said snowplowing is defined by state statute as an essential service, but “state statute does not say to what degree.” This could mean roads being cleared less often or in a less timely fashion, and Maynard said the state does not require the use of salt. While sand would be less expensive, it does not melt the snow and ice as salt does and this could lead to more slippery roads — another area to be considered in developing the 2014 budget.
    “The police department in this town does a heck of a lot more than people know,” Maynard said when discussing another essential service for Milo.
    He said in the town office employees specialize in certain functions required by the state and/or perform jobs that bring in money. “Cutting an entire position I think would be extremely difficult,” Maynard said.
    “Cuts I think are going to have to be made, from a manager’s point of view I would like to see us nibble around the edges and then see what we have to do,” he said about preliminary budget reductions such as asking department heads to devise some potential 5 percent cuts to their own budgets.
    He said after that, when more difficult choices need to be made, the public will be invited to another hearing to help determine “is cutting the budget more important or putting a little more in more important?”
    Selectman Lee McMannus said he has served on the budget committee in past years. “That nibbling around the edges, we have been doing that for years,” he said. “I don’t want to see anything cut but I’m also very aware of the economic situation in town.”
    McMannus later said he does not want to see anyone lose their job under any circumstances, and Maynard said other options would be considered first to avoid this possibility.
    Maynard said the town budget totals approximately $1.9 million to be raised through property taxes. He said in the worse case scenario of state revenue sharing being eliminated entirely, cuts to the spending plan would total about $300,000 — which equals about $3 mils. He said at the upcoming Maine Municipal Association convention there will be a number of discussions on how the state’s communities can work to restore some or all of the revenue sharing funds and not lose these monies completely.
    Over the next few months the town officials and the budget committee — whose sessions are open to the public — will be working on the finances for 2014. Their ultimate decisions will then up put up for a vote at the annual town meeting in March.