AUBURN – Plans for a $200,000 cut in city staff expenses are on hold pending agreements with two city unions.

City councilors included $200,000 in staff reorganization cuts when they approved their fiscal year 2003-2004 budget last month. City Manager Pat Finnigan said Thursday she is working on a plan for those cuts but has nothing complete yet.

“We’re just three weeks into the new fiscal year,” Finnigan said. “I’m not waiting. I’ve been roughing out some ideas, but I don’t have anything that will be finalized until we know where we stand with our staff.”

Councilors approved the $58.8 million budget in June. It calls for a 94-cent property tax hike citywide balanced with $780,000 in budget cuts.

Those cuts included the city’s share of a Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council national marketing campaign, changes to spring cleanup and ending weekly trash collections to apartments of four or more units. The budget also trimmed the city’s annual bond issue, deleted a cost of living raise for city employees and changed the city’s health insurance coverage. Councilors also directed Finnigan to cut an additional $200,000 out of the budget by restructuring her staff.

Finnigan said she has warned department heads that deeper budget cuts are looming.

“But right now, I’m emphasizing doing things differently in our operations,” Finnigan said. “I want to see how much we can save operationally without touching our staffing levels. Doing that, cutting staff, is really a last resort.”

The city is currently negotiating new contracts with the police and public works unions. Assistant City Manager Mark Adams met with public works employees on Monday and is scheduled to meet with police representatives today.

“The budget has been passed, but the work is not done yet,” she said. “Our ability to save money in other areas will have a real impact on saving jobs.”

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