LEWISTON – Go ahead and gloat over lower property taxes, City Administrator Jim Bennett told the City Council on Tuesday.
Councilors adopted Bennett’s $80 million spending plan for 2006 Tuesday night, agreeing to collect $39.6 million in taxes and setting the property tax rate at $27.35 for each $1,000 in value.
That’s almost $1 million less in property taxes and 35 cents off the tax rate. Lewiston could be one of the few places in Maine where property taxes actually come down, Bennett said.
“You don’t get an opportunity to do this often, so you should go ahead and gloat,” Bennett said. “You’ve done a great job.”
Lower property taxes will mean actual cuts in property tax bills – about $240 on the average home.
The city could do that because of a handful of factors, Bennett said.
• Business and residential investments added about $2 million in new annual property taxes.
• Lewiston schools look to receive about $3 million more in state aid in 2006 than in the current budget.
• Changes in the state Homestead Exemption rules dictate that any savings from that increase go to cut down residential property taxes.
Councilors also approved Bennett’s plan to hire Casella Waste Management Inc. to run the city landfill.
Casella pays the city a yearly fee instead of taxes, an annual hosting fee and $75,000 per year to hire environmental monitoring consultants. Bennett estimated those would add up to almost $196,200 in additional revenue in 2006 and more later on.
In exchange, the company gets the estimated $258,000 in annual fees from dump users. The city will pay to dump as well – about $55,000 in 2006 and $158,000 in 2007.
Above all, the city no longer has to pay costs to operate the landfill and recycling center. That should save $600,000 the first year and $350,000 per year after that. The city also gets about $1 million for transferring equipment to the company.
Bennett plans to use $290,000 of the annual savings to lower the city tax rate by 20 cents for the next three years.
Councilor Stavros Mendros said he wanted to use part of that savings to fix up city’s roads.
“It’s the one complaint we’re hearing from our constituents regularly,” Mendros said.
Councilors agreed to discuss that idea at a meeting later this summer.
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