AUBURN – Conflict between school and city officials comes down to who says who is stingy and who is generous.

City officials say they are willing to take a $60,554 hit in the fiscal year 2004-05 budget in order to give the school department the same budget it has this year.

That’s generous, city officials say.

School officials say it’s stingy.

To be fair, the city should transfer more like $200,000 to the schools, they say.

“We both come at the numbers differently, but we should reach the same result,” City Manager Pat Finnigan said Friday.

Despite the differences, both face cuts in the coming year due to declining state aid, as well as increases in employee costs, insurance and gasoline prices.

Where and how deep the cuts will be is still being pieced together.

The School Committee will meet Wednesday to continue budget planning. Councilors are expected to schedule a Tuesday night meeting.

Finnigan said the city would post notice of the meeting on the city’s Web site, www.auburnmaine.org, when it’s confirmed.

Numbers

Councilors have agreed on two things:

• The city’s mill rate must stay the same, $29.38 for each $1,000 of property value.

• Education will get the same revenue it did this fiscal year – $29,717,386.

According to city estimates, new home building and business investment means Auburn is worth $19 million more this year than last. That means that even with a stable tax rate, property tax revenue should increase by $558,220.

However, other city revenues have come down $618,764. That includes $140,563 in state aid to education cuts, about $210,000 in state revenue sharing and road reimbursement cuts, and about $270,000 in interest earnings.

All told, city revenues are down by $60,554. And since the council wants to freeze the school department’s budget where it is, that means the cut will be applied to the municipal budget. That’s a good thing for the schools.

“The idea of keeping the school department flat-funded isn’t a bad thing,” Finnigan said. “It should be looked at like they’re not losing ground.”

But school Business Manager Jude Cyr said schools are losing ground. Since the department’s share of lost non-property-tax money is only $140,563, schools should get a greater share of new property tax value, he says. The city should take the $60,544 out of its budget and transfer another $140,563 to the school department – a total of $201,107.

That would be fair, Cyr said.

“That is our share of property taxes,” Cyr said. “That’s what we should continue to get.”

“And I would say the city has done that in the past,” said Laurie Smith, the city’s acting finance director. “We are just not in the position to do it this year. But that’s a council decision. It’s something only they can decide.”

Originally, schools asked for a $1.4 million increase. No matter what, several teachers will lose their jobs in the coming fiscal year.

The city is facing cuts, as well. Leaving municipal programs and departments in place would mean increasing the budget by $400,000. Planning on a smaller budget than last year’s will mean program cuts and staff layoffs. Bigger cuts to the municipal budget are not possible, Smith said.

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