LEWISTON — A finance committee plan to limit the city’s borrowing going forward gets an airing with the City Council Tuesday.

City Councilor and Finance Committee member Robert Reed said he’d like to see the city’s annual borrowing each year tied to amount of debt that’s been paid off.

“We wouldn’t be able to go into any more debt than what we’ve paid off, and that would just flatten our debt for a while,” Reed said. “But a few others on the Finance Committee wanted borrowing to be less than what we’ve paid off, about 95 percent for each year.”

Finance committee members will present that recommendation to councilors during a workshop meeting, scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

“I’m just looking to gauge their support and really have a good discussion about the idea,” Reed said.

Councilors are also scheduled to discuss moving forward with a staff reorganization discussed during this spring’s budget hearings.

A plan presented to councilors in February called for reducing the number of departments and department heads from 14 to seven, saving an estimated $450,000.

Council Larry Poulin said he would like to set a time-line for reorganizing city departments.

“I don’t have any pre-ordained ideas about it, but I just wanted us to discuss when something should be presented,” Poulin said.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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Lewiston City Council

Special workshop meeting

• When: 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 30
• Where: Lewiston City Council Chambers, Lewiston City Hall
• The meeting will be televised over Great Falls TV public access — Channel 7 on Time Warner Cable, Channel 1 on Oxford Networks.

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