A sharply divided Lincoln Town Council voted Monday to slash public safety staffing and gut several town departments, approving a $9.9 million budget that cut deeper than the newly appointed town manager’s proposal.
The 12.8% budget cut was pushed through in a series of 4-3 votes by the council’s narrow conservative majority, which is facing a recall effort. It marks a large reduction from the $11.5 million budget proposed by Town Manager Wade Shaefer, who was recently appointed by that same majority despite no history in municipal office.
Lincoln’s deep cuts may be the most dramatic ones passed during Maine’s property tax revolt of the last year or so. Councilor Gordon Street, who advocated for more modest cuts, said the police department could lose several officers and fire and emergency medical services could lose three or four employees.
The conservatives are led by Vice Chair David Ireland, who has been a central figure in a broader political battle over Lincoln’s direction. Ireland pushed to base the budget on the town’s 2021 spending levels, with some increases to account for inflation, a target far below even Shaefer’s already-lean proposal, leading the council through a series of amendments.
Shaefer, who was tapped for the job by the council conservatives after his predecessor proved unwilling to make the steep cuts they were hoping for, proposed a small budget increase that would have required only modest cuts. For example, his version would have slightly raised the police department’s budget from $1.5 million to more than $1.7 million. But the version championed by Ireland cut it down to just over $1.2 million.
Discussion at Monday’s meeting drew emotional responses from both sides of the council, with Street pointing out the severity of the cuts and Councilor Sheldon Hanington, a former Republican state lawmaker, pushing for reducing tax burdens, suggesting the town government was bloated and local officials were making too much money.
“We’ve got to right-size government because if we don’t, people are going to continue to leave,” Hanington said. “People are starving right now as it is, working 60, 70 hours a week.”
“I know of people in this room who have made the decision to leave because of what is happening with this council trying to cut services,” Street responded.
Street repeatedly attempted to persuade Hanington and Ireland, as well as fellow conservatives Eric Rojo and Lee Rand, to accept more modest cuts. None of the four would bite.
In particular, Street stressed that the town’s assessing and finance departments both had director vacancies that may be difficult to fill. Those cuts went ahead anyway, with a particularly steep cut to the assessing department, which will now have to operate with just $10,000.
Inflation, particularly high in transportation-heavy fire and police budgets, is squeezing municipalities across Maine. Few have been willing to make robust service cuts. In Augusta, for example, a plan for a flat budget was quickly abandoned by city councilors after cuts became difficult to find amid rising costs.
In Lincoln, though, department heads will now face the task of finding ways to operate with significantly reduced budgets.
“It might be wage cuts if they don’t want to lay off, it might be not buying an extra cruiser that they really don’t need … but you have to be responsible as a manager,” Hanington said.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural government as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.