AUBURN – Norm McKeone leaned forward against the iron rail of the American Legion Post 153 fire escape, facing the mob gathered along South Main Street.
“They keep telling us Auburn is on the move,” McKeone said. “Well, we don’t want to have to move out of Auburn.”
Several hundred angry taxpayers roared their approval.
“This is exactly what I hoped would happen,” McKeone said at the first meeting of a new taxpayer group, started by McKeone, a former city councilor, and New Auburn hairdresser Deanna Chapman.
“We all have to stand up and not lose faith,” Chapman said. “This is our city, damn it, and if this is what it takes for us to reclaim it, this is what we’ll do. We need every single one of you to stay involved and not lose faith.”
The meeting was hastily scheduled to respond to the citywide property revaluation, mailed to taxpayers last week. Scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., Chapman had reserved the legion’s building with room for 125 people.
The crowd overflowed the hall by 6:45 p.m., and hundreds of people crowded around the exits looking for a way in. Chapman and McKeone adjourned briefly, moving the meeting into the parking lot around the hall and into the street.
The pair continued the rally perched on the building’s fire escape, talking to the crowd through public address speakers wired through the window. Police closed South Main Street around the legion post until just after 8 p.m. to accommodate the impromptu rally.
It was a raucous crowd of about 300 demanding tax reform in the city, with occasional shouts of “impeach the City Council,” “impeach the mayor” and “fire the city manager.”
Councilors, Mayor Norm Guay and City Manager Pat Finnigan filtered among the crowd, with Guay venturing to the microphone to speak.
“None of us want to see anyone put out of their homes,” he said. “None of us want to raise taxes.”
He was interrupted twice by the crowd, and finally surrendered the microphone.
Monday’s meeting was just the beginning, McKeone said. The group passed petitions among the crowd saying the revaluation should be scrapped. Chapman urged the crowd to take copies home and pass them around their neighborhood.
“We want at least 4,000 signatures,” she said.
She also encouraged everyone to attend the Nov. 21 City Council meeting. City Manager Finnigan said that meeting would likely be moved to an auditorium in one of Auburn’s schools to make room for the crowd.
Auburn Hall
Finnigan said the challenge now is to get correct information out about Auburn taxes and property values. Values have increased in the city and the new valuations reflect that accurately, she said.
“But we’re always upset about taxes,” Finnigan said. “Nobody feels the pain of taxes more acutely than the city officials.”
City councilors will set the tax rate in the spring once they’ve adopted a new budget. That will determine how much taxes property owners will pay. She guessed that rate would be lower than the $22 printed on revaluation notices.
Meanwhile, city assessing staff began meeting with taxpayers Monday to review property values. Assessor Cheryl Dubois said her staff reviewed 48 properties by the close of business.
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