AUBURN – There was a lot of agreement among candidates for city offices Wednesday night at the Auburn Public Library.

All but one panned a proposed Taxpayer Bill of Rights, or TABOR amendment on next month’s ballot. All agreed that downtown Auburn – and especially New Auburn – deserved special focus from city councilors. All thought combining services with Lewiston was a good idea.

Four of the five at-large City Council candidates, both mayoral candidates and the lone Ward 1 candidate, met Wednesday night at the basement room of the new Auburn Public library to discuss their policies and council politics. Only at-large candidate John Spruill didn’t attend the forum.

The forum continues at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, as candidates for City Council seats in Wards 2, 3, 4 and 5 meet. The forums are being sponsored by the Twin City Times.

There were some differences of opinion, however. Incumbent at-large City Councilor Bob Mennealy came out against a new tax incentive for the Auburn Mall, preferring to focus downtown and in New Auburn.

Mayoral candidate John Jenkins outlined his five priorities for his term as mayor, if elected: Trash, TIFs, Taxes, Teamwork and Truth.

“People keep telling me that,” Jenkins said. “If we have any problems, the one thing they want is to hear the truth.”

His opponent, Tammie Grieshaber, said she was committed to putting in the time to do the job of mayor.

“It’s not about who wants to be mayor more, but who wants to do the work as mayor,” Grieshaber said.

At-large candidate Ron Potvin was the only one to endorse the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

“We’ve watched the City Council spend endlessly, and it only changed this year when we all found out how much it was going to cost us,” Potvin said.

But Dick Gleason, the sole candidate in Ward 1, said he liked the idea behind TABOR.

“I’m not in favor of TABOR, but I am in favor of voting for candidates that support the ideas of TABOR,” he said.

Community is important said at-large candidate Ellen Peters. She promised to meet weekly with constituents, make them feel more welcome at City Council meetings and ask for regular status reports on community building efforts with Lewiston.

David Burke, another at-large candidate, said he was pleasantly surprised by Auburn’s budget this summer.

“It’s not as bad as people think,” Burke said. There is still room to cut, and opportunities to create other revenue.