Resident Joseph Pluff said the town’s revenue stream has been on the decline in recent years and that trend is likely to continue. He argued that the town needs to start living within its means. April 2003-Changes at the G-P mill in early April, which were projected to drop the assessed value by more than $67 million, threatened to cause a substantial shortfall in the Old Town city budget and raise the tax rate from 23 mills to 25 mills. Under the worst-case scenario, the city expected to be short by about $750,000. May 2003-OLD TOWN – At Tuesday’s joint meeting of the Old Town City Council and School Board, the board asked the council to increase the school budget by $83,564. April 2005-So far, Daigle said the city has made nearly $327,000 in cuts, including the elimination of two assistant fire chief positions, moving operation responsibilities from a private company to the municipality, and restructuring the parks and recreation department. May 2006-OLD TOWN – The Council on Monday informally agreed that the school board must make $315,000 in cuts to compensate for lost tax revenue from the recent closure of the Georgia-Pacific Corp. paper mill. June 2006-The recent closure of the Georgia-Pacific Corp. mill has resulted in about $70 million in lost property tax valuation to the city. To make up for the lost tax revenue, the city has made about $1.2 million in budget cuts that the council voted to split 50-50 with the School Department. June 2009-A 2009-2010 municipal budget of $8,127,219 also garnered the council’s unanimous support. Although it calls for about $200,000 more than the current budget, the difference will be made up out of the city’s Reserve Fund, without raising property taxes or service fees and without laying off any city employees. June 2010-The $16.3 million budget eliminates several teaching positions and reflects other efficiencies aimed at minimizing tax increases in the participating municipalities. The budget represents an overall reduction of $352,000 from this year’s spending plan. The need to reduce spending was driven in large part by a cut of $591,000 in general purpose aid from the state and offset by an infusion of $104,000 in federal stimulus dollars, resulting in a net funding loss of $486,895. May 2012- The budget accounts for a $257,000 increase in revenues from recreation program fees, commercial tipping fees and community pool charges. Lovejoy’s proposal also cuts city expenses by $109,863, reducing the budget by a total of $366,863 from the previous year — roughly $233,000 short of the goal. June 2013-Mayo said Old Town has a revenue decrease of $516,390, plus a proposed total increase of $274,082 for the city, school and county budgets. There’s also a projected loss of $264,040 from cutbacks in state revenue sharing for a total of $1,054,512. A 5 percent increase in the tax rate would recover $440,000, but the city would still need to cut services and/or personnel to make up the remaining $614,512. Old Town’s mill rate is currently $18.69 per $1,000 of property value. Next year, it could jump to $19.52. 5.11.2011 Old Town tax rate to increase by more than 10 percent 5.14.2012 Old Town budget plan would raise taxes 4 percent 6.28.2013 A 5 percent increase in the tax rate would recover $440,000 Dec 2012 What is Pay As You Throw?Pay As You Throw (PAYT) is a fee - Based trash program that helps residents and the City save money. Rather than simply raise taxes, we searched for alternatives that would help reduce waste across the community and bring a sense of fairness and equity to the process, similar to paying for water, electricity, and other utilities. Thank you.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Jul 2013 10:50:43 +0000
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