By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – Three city councilors nearly turned a massive public hearing on property values into a referendum on a new Great Falls Plaza parking garage.

Mayor Normand Guay personally turned back a last-minute bid to pull $5 million in bonds and scrap the garage, much to the dismay of more than a 1,000 Auburn residents who nearly filled the Central Maine Community College gym.

The fate of the garage became a running theme among the audience, as they complained about high taxes and city services.

“The City Council needs to be prepared for a fight, after this,” said Gary Baillargeon, of 144 Broadview Ave.

The regular council meeting was moved to the more spacious gymnasium to accommodate the crowd of expected tax protesters. Most came to speak against a new property revaluation that threatens to double or triple some property tax bills. City assessors completed the revaluation last summer.

Residents nearly filled the 1,200 seat gym to capacity.

Councilors started the meeting with normal business, passing a zoning ordinance and reviewing the city’s financial report for October. Councilors Belinda Gerry, Donna Lyons Rowell and Bob Menneally voted to add a last-minute review of the bonds for the parking garage just before Mayor Guay opened the meeting to the public.

“I feel that, in light of the property tax situation, we need to put the money we’d spend on building that garage on other city priorities,” Gerry said. She said she preferred using the money to fix city roads.

It was the second time the three had tried to stop funds for the garage. A similar effort fell 4-3 in May. But Councilor Bethel Shields, a supporter of the garage in May, was absent Monday night. When Guay called for a vote, councilors split, with Eric Samson, Kelly Matzen and Robert Hayes voting to support it. Guay broke the tie, voting to support the garage.

The crowd roared their disapproval.

“You, Mr. Mayor, voted not to support the taxpayers,” said Harry St. Pierre. “You will be held accountable.”

Most used the opportunity to call for fundamental changes in city government. Ron Potvin, of 82 Northern Ave., called for a freeze on all city spending and hiring. Carleen Lemieux, saying she represented city employees, called for councilors to replace City Manager Pat Finnigan.

“You are the only ones that can do it,” Lemieux said. “You are the ones that have that power. But remember: We have the power to replace you.”

Some lamented the errors on the property value notices the city mailed earlier this month. The letter mistakenly labeled every property in Auburn as having both an attached garage and an unattached garage. It should have been an easy mistake to fix, according to Ed Desgrosseillers, of 149 Hatch Road. And there were worse mistakes, he said.

“I talked to one man who has a swimming pool in his backyard, according to the letter,” Desgrosseillers said. “He doesn’t. He does have a bird bath, however.”

Michael Norton, of 91 Eastman Lane, said he doubted some of the values were correct. He pointed to a property he owns with a crumbling foundation and failing walls. That property was assessed as being worth $162,400, according to the city.

“My Realtor thinks there’s something really wrong here,” he said. The property, at 109 Eastman Lane, is not even insurable, he said.

“And that’s just one property,” he said. “I’ve talked to several others with the same problems.” The crowd was boisterous, with occasional calls to impeach the council and mayor.

“I have one solution,” said Fred Carpentier, of 134 Cook St. “Let’s just not pay our taxes. What can they do?”

Bruce Bickford, of Cameron Lane in the Danville Corner section of Auburn, had another solution – secession.

“Danville used to be its own town at one time, bigger than Auburn,” he said. “The city needs to fix this, or you might see Danville becoming its own town again.”

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