MECHANIC FALLS — Town Manager John Hawley Wednesday unveiled his proposed municipal budget of about $2.4 million, including $160,631 to pay the county tax assessment, for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
“None of the departments are asking for unreasonable increases,” Hawley told the gathering of Budget Committee and Town Council members.
Hawley pointed out that although total expenditures are about $18,000 lower than what has been approved for the current year, the net to be raised through local property taxes is up about $50,000.
“That could easily disappear with a value increase, and we have seen some new growth this past year so that is likely to happen,” Hawley said.
The proposed budget allows for a 3 percent wage increase for full-time town employees, anticipates health insurance costs rising about $9,000, and includes a provision for a major increase in dispatch costs, with this year’s $10,726 price tag for dispatch expected to balloon to more than $42,000.
“Every community in Androscoggin County is going to feel a pinch, but those with their own police departments are getting hit the hardest,” Hawley said.
Several Budget Committee members had problems with the $4,000 increase in the request for the solid waste budget — the amount being requested to construct a new office facility at the town landfill and transfer station.
Hawley said that the plan was to construct, with in-house help, a 12- by 20-foot open room that would be heated with a wood stove. He said it’s a basic shelter, with no running water, just a refuge from the elements. Workers would continue using a Porta Potty.
Budget Committee member Bonnie Payette and Council member Lou Annance asked Hawley to prepare an alternate proposal, with water and toilet facilities, before the budget goes to a public hearing.
The budget’s public hearing will be held Wednesday, May 2.
Following the public hearing, the Budget Committee and the Council will make their recommendations for what will appear on the ballot that will be put to townspeople in conjunction with primary elections being held on June 12.
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