West Paris facing reduced revenue, smaller budget

MAKING A CASE — Tri-County Mental Health board member Bill Britting (left) argues for public funding of his organization at the January 14 meeting of the West Paris budget committee.  The five-person committee, including (left to right) Dian Rainey, Dale Piirainen and George Twine, will make recommendations at its next meeting, set for 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, at the town office.  (photo by Duke Harrington)

WEST PARIS — Local towns will have difficult decisions to make when drafting annual budgets this year.  However, towns that begin their fiscal years on July 1 should have at least some inkling how to react to funding changes enacted this spring by the state legislature.

But for smaller towns across the Oxford Hills — the ones that cling to the tradition March gathering date for town meeting — setting this year's spending plan is purely a guessing game.

The state legislature has been in session less than two weeks now, and questions linger over exactly how it will administer Governor John Baldacci's $146 million curtailment order for the current state budget, or how it will deal with an expected $830 million shortfall in the next biennial cycle.

Still, time and taxation wait on no man, and in West Paris, Town Manager John White already has submitted his budget proposal for his current fiscal year, which began January 1.

West Paris has a fiscal year that matches the calendar year, but selectmen are allowed to run the town using surplus funds until March, when voters set the annual budget.

To hedge his bets, White has assumed a 10 percent drop in state revenue sharing this year, plus a 5 percent weakening in vehicle excise taxes.  The result is a $1.1 million municipal budget that is actually off $29,632 (-2.6 percent) from White's 2008 spending plan.

Asked at a January 14 budget committee meeting to describe his proposal, White made light of the difficult decisions he was forced to make, joking, "at least when I read about it in the paper, I won't cringe."

White's joke was an indirect reference to the taxation trouble many towns expect to face this year. 

In recent interviews, several town managers in the Oxford Hills have pointed out that the expected drop in state revenue sharing will send them dialing for dollars in other directions.  Even in towns that plan to "flat-fund" the shift may well result in higher property taxes.

However, West Paris taxpayers should escape that fate, thanks, in part, to the conservative way in which White crafted his 2008 budget.

Although White sees a drop in virtually all revenue lines, from actual 2008 receipts of  $525,863 down to $454,176 in 2009, that lowered expectation is only off $8,824 from the $463,200 he counted on last year to offset local spending.  If White has guessed right, and even if revenue is down three times what he's expecting, the drop will be more than covered by the $29,6532 spending cut.

And if revenue does not fall as much as anticipated, the rest is money in the bank, or at least in the town's undesignated surplus.

Still, even if this year's budget in West Paris does not look to be the disaster some Maine towns might expect, it does contain some cringe-worthy trends.

For one, the dip in town revenue from sources other than property taxes — including state revenue sharing, excise taxes, interest on deposits and agent fees — did not begin with the current recession.  Going back to 2006, revenue from actual receipts is off 4.4 percent, from $549,944 to $525,863.  Meanwhile, the municipal budget is up 10.1 percent in the same timeframe, from $1,076.337 in 2006 to last year's actual spending of $1,185,357. 

Add in hikes in school and county spending, and the disparity between dollars coming in and dollars going out becomes even greater.

At the same time, West Paris is experiencing a spike in requests for general assistance — the emergency funds doled out to the needy and indigent.

Voters appropriated $18,000 for general assistance last year, but spent $39,744 — an increase of 121 percent. 

By law, the town must meet the need by drawing the extra funds from its undesignated surplus, also known as the general fund.

Although the state reimburses half of all general assistance spending, White is taking no chances.  This year, he'll ask voters to set aside $35,000 for that expense.

Most of the big dollar changes in White's budget proposal are found in the highway department, where he's added $50,500 to snow removal and $16,300 to general operations, bringing those lines to $135,500 and $61,300, respectively.  He's also added $25,000 to tar roads, for an even $50,000.

On the negative side of the ledger, White has cut in half the town's annual contribution to its highway capital reserve, to $75,000.  He's also knocked one-third from the equipment reserve deposit, asking for just $50,000 this year.

White also carved $7,935 from transfer station operations, reducing his request to $106,290.  A $3,000 cut in general expenses at the town office should cover a $2,304 (2.5 percent) increase in salaries and wages there, while a $10,9000 reduction will leave Fire Chief Norm St. Pierre with just $6,600 to spend on new equipment in 2009.  However, firefighters will see an extra $1,500 in wages, now set at $35,000 for the year.

White also has cut the $15,000 donation the town made last year to the library's expansion project.  The operating request from library directors is down $42 to $23,178.

Fourteen social services agencies, including Community Concepts, SeniorsPlus and Tri-County Mental Health, have asked West Paris citizens for a combined $15,625 in funding this year.  Of that, White is recommending they approve $8,035.

However, that amount does not reflect current economic woes.  West Paris voters decided several years ago to freeze social service spending to the amounts and agencies it approved that year. 

The lone exception is Western Maine Transportation, which last year fell off the approved agency list when it failed to submit its funding request before deadline.  This year, it will be allowed back on the dole, albeit for the usual $1,102 and not the $1,500 it asked for.

Of course, that and all amounts are not final until West Paris' five-member budget committee weighs in.  It will meet with selectmen to comb White's budget proposal for possible cuts and additions tonight, following the regularly scheduled selectboard meeting.

Although it might start late, if the selectmen run long, the budget session is not scheduled to begin until 6:30 p.m., Thursday, January 22, at the town office.