LEWISTON – City councilors will begin their budget review looking for ways to trim spending and find efficiencies.

“We don’t want to cut services unless we have to, but we don’t want to see any more taxes, either,” Councilor Larry Poulin said Wednesday. “That means we’re going to be looking for efficiencies.”

City Administrator Jim Bennett and his staff will present the draft budget to the council at a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall. The presentation will be shown live on Great Falls TV, Channel 7 on Time Warner Cable, and Channel 1 on Oxford Networks.

Bennett said Thursday’s budget information will be the most detailed he’s presented.

“Other than that, there is not much that’s going to be different this year,” Bennett said. There are no proposals for new services or spending.

Having the details suits councilors fine, they said.

“As a group, I think we’re looking forward to it, and getting as much public input as we can,” Councilor Tina Bailey said.

This will be the first budget for all seven councilors. They were elected as a group in November. That gives them a fresh perspective, according to Councilor Denis Theriault.

“In my mind, everything is on the table,” he said. “I want to look at it and review it. I don’t care if it’s a program from the past or something that just started, everything needs to be looked at.”

It could mean cuts, he said.

“We’re not playing this year,” he said. “We’ve asked for more details than ever, and we want to see the sources of all of our money and how each dollar gets spent and why that spending is necessary.”

Councilor Tom Peters said he wants the city to look for creative ways to trim spending.

“Just because we’ve done something one way for years doesn’t mean that’s the best way,” he said. “There never is enough money, but taxes now are too high. People are hurting already with oil prices and food prices and we need to set some hard priorities, because some things are going to have to go.”