LIVERMORE FALLS – Initial talks on a municipal budget for 2007-08 will begin next Tuesday with a presentation of the Highway Department and general assistance proposals, selectmen’s Chairman Julie Deschesne said.

That meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the town office.

At 6 p.m. the following Monday, Feb. 26, at the town office, budgets to be reviewed are police, dispatch, administration and possibly fire and the transfer station, Deschesne said.

The board hasn’t decided if it’ll change the way the town meeting is conducted from an open-style to a referendum, she said.

Town Manager Martin Puckett said Tuesday that he gave information to selectmen and Budget Committee members Monday night to help them construct a budget for fiscal 2008.

Though the figures are tentative, Puckett said it looks like in three years the town will lose $250,000 in revenue, for the most part because of the elimination of personal property tax on new equipment and machinery and the reduction of tax assessments for existing personal property.

Although it helps Maine businesses, the change shifts the tax burden to the homeowner, Puckett said.

The town’s largest sources of revenue are taxes on real estate and personal property. Last year, the town received nearly $2.17 million real estate taxes and $1.27 million from personal property taxes, Puckett said.

“There has been some growth in the town and I anticipate it will more than equate the depreciation of personal property,” he said.

The first year the town is expected to lose revenue with the shift away from personal property taxes is in 2009, Puckett said.

After April 1, 2008, if any new personal property is brought into town such as a new paper machine or logging equipment, the town will receive no tax dollars for it.

Currently, the town gets 100 percent of the value of taxes assessed on personal property, Puckett said. “In 2009, we’ll get 90 percent of the value and in 2010, we’ll get 79.5 percent of the value.”

In 2009, the town is estimated to receive $1.4 million from personal property taxes and the following years it is estimated to get $1 million,

Taking everything into account for revenues for next year, Puckett said, he anticipates an increase between $40,000 and $50,000 based on last year’s figures.

All in all, based on the information he has, Puckett said, he does not anticipate drastic cuts are needed for the proposed 2007-08 budget, he said.