AUBURN – There could still be money to trim from the city’s $63.2 million budget, but councilors and critics agreed Monday that deeper cuts will wait until next year.
“We all have to operate under one sky, all of us,” said Dan Herrick of 470 Hatch Road. “We need to adopt what we have before us tonight. Then, I recommend we start working on the next year’s budget right away.”
Councilors unanimously agreed, passing the city’s spending plan on first reading Monday. They’ll pick it up again in one week, voting on it at a second reading.
In all, the budget calls for $63,199,896 in spending. Of that, $30.6 million is earmarked for the municipal needs and $32.6 million is set aside for education.
The budget represents a 2.9 percent increase in spending compared to the 2005-06 budget.
It also calls for $39.5 million in property taxes, a 1.4 percent increase compared to the current budget. Based on old 2005-06 property values and $31.8 million in economic growth, it would set the property tax rate at $30.16 per $1,000 of value. That’s down by 32 cents.
According to the city charter, no more than two councilors can vote against the budget in order for it to pass. If councilors could not adopt a budget by the end of June, the city manager’s budget – with $926,000 more in spending – would have been automatically adopted.
Councilors were unable to reach a deal on the budget at two meetings earlier this month. Staff and school officials continued working, according to City Manager Pat Finnigan.
School officials agreed to move funding for a regional program out of the department’s main budget, according to School Superintendent Barbara Eretzian. That program is paid for by federal grants and tuition. Moving it out of the school’s budget saved the city $517,000 overall and reduced property taxes by $166,000.
It was enough to convince all of the councilors to get on board.
“We do need to pass this budget as it is, even though I still think there could have been more cuts,” Councilor Bob Mennealy said. “I still think the education budget is the sacred cow and that we have too many administrators. Still, when you say you want cut that budget, you’re a criminal.”
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