AUBURN – County commissioners blame a lack of surplus revenues in the 2005 budget on a proposed 15.8 percent increase in the tax levy.

In each of the last several years, surplus funds have been available from previous years that have offset the amounts needed to be raised by taxation. That surplus is not currently available.

“The commission in whole has worked very hard to keep this budget down,” commission Chairman Elmer Berry said Wednesday during a presentation of the draft budget. “The past has finally caught up with us this year.”

In a letter to the Budget Committee, Berry and Commissioners Constance Cote and Patience Johnson cited a reduction in revenues for 2005 of $537,385 due in part to a lack of surplus from 2003, as those funds were used to reduce the 2004 budget, and a 53rd week payroll of $73,000.

The proposed budget calls for departmental expenditures of $9,716,819, a 4.78 percent increase over the 2004 figure of $9,273,527. Projected revenues and credits for the coming year total $2,233,089, a 19.40 percent decrease from the $2,770,474 received in 2004. The proposed amount to be raised by taxation is $7,483,730, a $980,677 increase from the $6,503,053 raised last year.

The largest proposed increase is $137,161 for the operation of the Androscoggin County Jail. Other proposed increases include $94,148 for the Sheriff’s Department, $51,427 for the Sheriff’s Department’s Civil Process program, and $203,218 for employee benefits. Some of the sheriff’s expenditures are offset by grants.

A nine-member Budget Committee will begin weekly meetings to consider each department’s budget next week. That citizen committee could change the budget, resulting in a possible lower tax levy than what the commission proposed. The process will culminate with public hearings Dec. 15 and 22.

The committee is made up of Renee Bernier, Daniel Blanchard, Michael Bowie, Paul Labrecque, Philippe Moreau, Bruce Nadeau, Robert Pontbriand, Dennis Roderick and Herbert Reed.