AUBURN – Kelly Matzen’s last-minute deal Monday night let councilors walk out of Auburn Hall one vote away from passing a $61 million budget.
Matzen agreed to put $15,000 back in the city’s 2006 budget to fund social programs and a part-time Recreation Department employee. That broke a 4-3 deadlock that had councilors facing a second week with no budget deal.
“One of the things we have to be able to do as councilors is to respect each other throughout the process,” Matzen said. “That has not been sustained this year. This has been a most disheartening process.”
Councilors will meet again in a week to vote on the budget for the last time.
That budget would have the city asking for $38.9 million in property taxes, about $1.6 million more than in last year’s budget.
That would set the city’s tax rate at about $30.49 per $1,000 of value and taxes at about $2,771.54 on a $100,000 home.
Councilors began their budget hearings last month facing about $2.7 million more in property taxes. They sent city and school administration back to trim $350,000 from the schools and $650,000 from the city.
Both met their mark. The School Committee officials agreed to cut five teachers, letting four retire and laying off the fifth. Councilors balked at City Manager Pat Finnigan’s cuts, adding back $122,000.
That budget failed to get a five-vote majority last week, and councilors were forced to regroup, putting together a deal to trim another $130,000 from the city budget. That cuts a new police cruiser, a public works employee, two other unnamed employees, social service spending and a recreation department assistant.
Monday, Councilor Belinda Gerry a made last-minute pitch to preserve $8,000 for social services and the $7,000 for the parks and recreation assistant. Gerry wanted to take money from other accounts – council meals, money for councilors to attend special meetings and a planned wage study among them – to keep the tax rate from increasing.
“I cannot support a budget if we cannot help the little guys,” Gerry said.
Her amendment failed, with only Gerry and Councilors Bob Mennealy and Donna Lyons Rowell voting to support it. Councilors then pushed for a vote on the entire budget, which failed along the same lines. Councilors Bethel Shields, Bob Hayes, Eric Samson and Kelly Matzen voted to support it.
“In the spirit of cooperation, I find it amazing we could not support Councilor Gerry’s amendment,” Mennealy said.
Matzen suggested his compromise, which added Gerry’s $15,000 to the bottom line without making other cuts. Six of the seven councilors supported it. Only Rowell, who wanted more money for teaching jobs, voted against it.
Homestead
Matzen blamed the homestead exemption for part of the city’s problems. The budget was already increasing because of higher salary and benefits, fuel price hikes and more expensive salt and sand for clearing icy roads.
State tax relief efforts actually hurt, Matzen said. The Legislature increased the homestead by $13,000 but paid for only half of that. That forced the city to come up with the rest, and Matzen said that accounted for 45 percent of the total increase.
“In effect, the state directed us to shift the burden to non-homestead taxpayers,” Matzen said.
Comments are no longer available on this story