AUBURN – Councilors want to see a budget for a proposed Twin Cities health committee before they’ll sign off.

“When you form something like this, there will be a budget,” said Ward 4 Councilor Bruce Bickford.

Committee members said any spending would be for administrative services only, at this time.

“We’re talking about my time, and e-mail,” said Phil Nadeau, Lewiston’s deputy city administrator and coordinator for the group. “We’re not proposing to create any new programs, but to create a better way for those programs to work together. We’re not looking to expand government at all.”

The Twin Cities have no single way to distribute information about public health issues, such as planning for pandemic outbreaks or health education. The two hospitals handle some functions, such as setting up flu shot clinics, and area nonprofits handle others.

They tend to duplicate some efforts and miss others, however.

Organizers are recommending that Nadeau act as liaison between the committee and both cities. The committee would coordinate planning and programs and the cities would become the main distribution point for getting information out to the public.

Lewiston’s councilors signed off on the plan last week as long as the city does not bear the full brunt of administrative costs.

Auburn’s councilors said they wanted to know just what those costs would be.

“We’re going to be faced with many budgets and we need to know everything we’ll be spending,” said Councilor Michael Farrell.

But Councilor Bob Hayes said he liked the idea.

“This is the kind of thing we should be endorsing,” he said.

Councilors are scheduled to vote on the matter at their March 3 meeting.