ROCKLAND, Maine — City Manager James Smith unveiled his proposed 2012-2013 municipal budget Monday night, a package that increases spending by about 4 percent but takes what he said is a small step toward reducing the community’s debt dependency.
With about a month under his belt as Rockland’s city manager, Smith presented his $10.4 million budget to city councilors. Coupled with a higher proposed school budget, the average homeowner with property assessed at $167,000 will pay an additional $105 in taxes.
The proposed budget calls for a reduction in public library hours as well as a pay freeze for all employees until union contracts are settled.
Smith’s budget message to councilors, however, stressed the need to reduce debt.
“I am saying that we have created a reliance on debt financing. This is known as debt dependency cycle, and management is committed to breaking this dependency and improving the fiscal health of the city,” Smith said to the council at its Monday night meeting.
The amount of debt repayment in the proposed 2012-2013 budget is $988,151. This is up 6 percent, or $55,663, from this year’s budget but down from the $1,128,068 spent in 2009-2010.
The city’s general fund debt is $4.1 million with the majority from work on sewer lines. The city’s wastewater treatment plant — which is paid for through sewer fees — has debts of another $6.9 million.
“By reducing our debt dependency and improving our availability of cash, we are moving the city of Rockland toward a stable rate of taxation. This goal is most valuable to the small businesses, entrepreneurs and those living on fixed incomes,” Smith said.
The proposed $10,397,545 budget for 2012-2013 represents a 4.2 percent, or $420,581, increase from the $9,976,964 budget approved last year by the City Council.
Increases include the $55,663 in added debt payments, $48,000 more for employee health insurance, $48,000 more for employee retirement system contributions, $25,000 more in general assistance, and $20,000 more for fuel.
The city also projects it will lose $89,000 in state aid.
The city manager said until union contracts are settled there will be a pay freeze for all employees. The manager’s budget also calls for restructuring health insurance programs although no specifics were included in the written budget.
The budget also includes $134,433 in contingencies.
The budget calls for cutting library hours from 67 to 61 per week.
Last year, then-City Manager Rosemary Kulow called for eliminating Sunday hours at the library. Library supporters voiced opposition to that plan and councilors agreed to add money to keep the library open on Sundays.
The budget calls for using $300,000 in surplus to offset some of the higher expenses and reduced state aid.
With the use of surplus, the amount of property taxes for municipal operations will increase 3.2 percent, or $196,996, reaching $6.44 million.
The tax rate is proposed to increase from $18.78 to $19.41 per $1,000 of assessment. Average homeowners will see their annual tax bills rise from $3,136 to $3,241. The majority of the tax hike is due to an increase in the city’s share of the Regional School Unit 13 budget.
The largest account in the proposed municipal budget is the Police Department at $1.99 million, which is up 4 percent. The Public Works Department budget is proposed at $1.65 million, up 4.6 percent. The Fire Department budget is proposed at $1.5 million, up 4.3 percent. Lights and hydrants are proposed at $601,000, up 1.3 percent. The library is proposed at $592,000, down 1.5 percent. The Recreation Department is proposed at $380,000, up 1.5 percent.
Is there an evaluation of the work output of union employees, compared to earnings. What is their actual work value. If salaries and benefits do not equal or exceed output, would a city consider replacing union staff with non-union employees, who would be paid a reasonable salary and benefit. And, what level of pensions are demanded within the union. This is not to suggest that unions, per se, are unwarranted. But demands often seem to exceed what is realistic for the work performed, and in comparison to non-union, salaried employees.
And, what is the wisdom of having a budget drawn by anyone one month on any job.
Is anyone challenging the legality of Rockland residents taking on such a sizeable chunk of the increased taxes due to the school consolidation?
“I am saying that we have created a reliance on debt financing. This is known as debt dependency cycle, and management is committed to breaking this dependency and improving the fiscal health of the city,” Smith said to the council at its Monday night meeting.
What a refreshing thing for a City Manager to be proposing!
Excuse me, but isn’t this standard political rhetoric – the kind of verbal panacea utilized to distract from an evaluation of the value, effectiveness, reasonableness of expenditures.
96,000 for ‘added’ health care and retirement of city employees…in this economy? and on it goes.
If we had a national healthcare plan neither the city, the county, nor the state would have to cover these costs and thus your local taxes would go down. Yes federal taxes would go up a bit however without the “for profit” amount added on top we would all save money.
total agreement…a national disgrace.
I bet those windows are translucent, not opaque. If they really are opaque, they can just brick ’em up, since opaque means:
not transparent or translucent; impenetrable to light; not allowing light to pass through.
It’s a shame to lose historic buildings, but we have a lot of them already and the cost of energy to run them and their inefficiency makes use or retrofitting prohibitively expensive. Reminds me of the State Theatre in Portland – beautiful but a money pit
You’re referring to the Lincoln Street Center article?
To cut 6 hrs from the library budget give me a break. Why not cut something from the rec center. They do nt have many programs for kids and there is alot of overhead there. Maybe when the Y opens in Thomaston we can bus the kids there. I think the City needs to get out of the rec business. $380,000 for what? I bet most of that money is for salary.The tax rate just from the school for Rockland residents is going to be 4% and that just for school.
Agreed, Why is the first cut always the library? It’s Rockland’s greatest asset.
Word is that the State retirement system is demanding more money to cover retirement benefits when the actual fund that covers municipal workers (not State employees) is 93-97% solvent. One must wonder if these funds are not required to payout the municipal employee benefits, why must they increase they costs to municipal employers? From what I understand there is a large difference in the two funds, municipal employees and state employees, it’s the State’s that has been robbed and therefore in financial trouble, not the municipal fund. maybe Rockland and other cities (one must expect they’ve raised their rates as well) should be asking MSRS why the the increase?