LEWISTON — Androscoggin County commissioners should simplify a charter amendment designed to give Budget Committee members a say in commissioners’ pay, city councilors agreed Tuesday night.

Councilors directed City Administrator Ed Barrett to request commissioners make their proposed charter amendment easier to understand at Wednesday night’s public hearing.

Councilors also agreed with Barrett to push commissioners to settle questions about what authority the Budget Committee has once and for all.

“That is something they’ve indicated they will potentially deal with at some point, but not now,” Barrett said. “But I think now is the right time to address that issue as well.”

A public hearing on the amendment is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday in the County Building in Auburn. If commissioners agree, voters will see the charter amendment on the ballot in November.

The commission voted in November to reinstate a number of cuts the Budget Committee had approved. Those included cuts to commissioners’ salary and benefits.

Budget Committee members had voted to cut commissioners’ annual salaries from $7,200 each to $3,000. The committee also did away with health insurance coverage for commissioners and their families.

Commissioners voted in November to instead cut only $2,000 of their individual base pay — leaving their salaries at $5,000 — and to fund individual health and dental coverage for commissioners worth about $8,400 per commissioner.

The move angered members of the 14-member Budget Committee and municipal officials around Androscoggin County.

The proposed charter amendment would give the Budget Committee final say in future questions over commissioners’ pay as long as the group had a “majority plus one.” Barrett argued for making that a simple majority.

He also proposed a process between commissioners and the Budget Committee for deciding all county financial issues.

Commissioners could override the committee’s proposed budget with a two-thirds vote. The committee could override that and have final say if they could get an 11-vote super majority.

“It would create better communication so that there is a give and take,” Barrett said. “Listening to them all, there was not a lot of communication between the commissioners and the Budget Committee.”

Councilors agreed, and Councilor Mark Cayer suggested Barrett try and get other county municipal officials to back him up.

“If we can’t get at least a majority of communities in the county to support it, I’m not sure what weight it will have — even coming from the largest municipality in the county,” Cayer said. “I really think it’s important to get a coalition of other leaders supporting this.”

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