AUBURN — City councilors on Monday approved the School Committee’s proposed $40.7 million budget, sending it to a June 14 referendum.

It calls for a $1.2 million increase in property taxes for education.

Councilors approved it by a 4-3 vote, and those that supported it said they were pleased.

“I would urge my councilors to support this budget, too,” Councilor Bob Stone said. “Let’s keep moving the education system in Auburn forward.”

Councilors Leroy Walker, Andy Titus and Tina Gilbert all voted against the school budget, and Walker said voters would be the ultimate authority.

“I’m sure the voters will tell you, for sure,” Walker said. “And if I’m a betting man, I’d bet this one does not pass the voters.”

But Walker said the council’s vote convinced him to ease up budgetary restrictions on Auburn’s municipal services. He suggested councilors give City Manager Howard Kroll a budget increase of up to 1.75 percent.

Councilors set the budget increase ceiling at 0.7 percent when they first began work on the 2016-17 budget in March.

“I believe it’s only fair we forget about this 0.7 percent budget and the strain we put him under,” Walker said. “If we can do it for one department, we can do it for the other.”

Kroll’s proposed municipal budget would increase property taxes by $160,129 — a 0.67 percent increase. Combined with a $1.2 million increase in property taxes for the Auburn School Department and $25,443 more for Androscoggin County, property taxes would still increase $1.39 million — a 3.3 percent increase compared to the current year.

It would set the total municipal tax rate at $22 per $1,000 of value, up from the current $21.25 tax rate — a $112.50 increase in taxes for a $150,000 home. Councilors would need a five-vote majority to approve the tax increase.

Walker’s proposal would add another $258,000 to the tax levy, and another $19 on the tax bill for a $150,000 home.

Councilors also approved a first reading of Kroll’s draft budget, setting a final reading on June 20. Most said they supported easing up on the municipal side.

“I look forward to seeing healthy amendments to the budget to get us back to a place that has some semblance of reason in terms of the management of our city,” Councilor Grady Burns said.

Councilor Jim Pross said councilors should not have set an arbitrary limit in the first place.

“We should have asked what it takes to run the city to get it to where we want it, from a policy standpoint,” Pross said. “You cannot start the budgeting process from a number. It’s the wrong way to plan. We should have guided with policy initiatives and direction — not a number.”

One number that did not appear to have council support was funding for the Lewiston-Auburn Economic Growth Council. Kroll’s budget includes no funding for the regional marketing group, and councilors made no move Monday to put it back it on the budget, in spite of a push by President John Holden and others.

Holden said the Growth Council is a new entity under his leadership.

“I cannot amend the past or change decisions that were made before us by earlier members of the Growth Council or previous city councils,” Holden said. “I choose not to criticize those decisions, as I’m sure they were made with the best information and intentions. But I submit that improvements are being made to the way we do economic development.”

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