Auburn councilors agreed Monday to aim for a 7.5% increase in the next city budget.

The agreement came after City Manager Phillip Crowell Jr. presented his proposed budget of nearly $72.8 million, a 13.7% increase over the current year’s nearly $64 million spending plan.

That would mean cutting roughly $4 million out of the proposed budget, based on information shared by Councilor Adam Platz.

Mayor Jeff Harmon said it is too early to be able to determine how much the proposed budget would increase the mill rate by.

Nontaxable revenues, up 1.6%, are expected to be far lower than increasing costs, Crowell said. And depending on the outcome of the city’s valuation, the amount of state revenue sharing received by the city could be impacted.

By far the biggest item driving the budget up is debt service following a successful referendum to bond the construction of a $43 million public safety building. The budget item is increasing nearly 44% compared to this year’s budget, going from nearly $12.3 million to about $17.6 million. This is a cost that councilors have no ability to cut or reduce.

Councilors discussed some areas where they think cuts will be focused, such as municipal services, which includes city departments. But it was too early in the process to understand exactly which line items will be cut.

The city’s first budget discussion was long and there were some split votes on what councilors wanted to include in the budget going forward. Some areas of the budget could become hot-button funding issues for councilors and the public.

Here are a few to keep an eye on:

1. Public safety building bond

The city will spend nearly $4.4 million on the public safety building bond this year.

Councilor Belinda Gerry thought maybe voters did not know what they were getting into when they approved the bond, but Harmon was quick to remind her that bond figures and expected interest rates were all outlined on the referendum ballot.

Crowell confirmed to councilors that interest on the bond is as expected but the total payout amount on the bond dropped considerably.

2. The operating budget

Crowell is proposing to increase the city’s total municipal services budget, which includes town departments and the costs to operate them, by almost 5.7%, from just above $42 million approved last year to about $44.4 million.

Because councilors do not have leeway over debt services, some councilors felt that the operating budget would likely have to be looked at for potential cuts and reductions.

The city is getting a break on general assistance this year, budgeting for less compared to the current budget because fewer funds were used for that program this year, Crowell said. However, the city will also see less state revenue for program, 70% of which gets reimbursed by the state.

Crowell said staff raises also attributed to increasing the proposed operating budget this year.

3. Flock cameras

Though the cost for this funding item is a drop in the bucket compared to the larger municipal budget, the city has come under scrutiny lately for installing seven Flock camera license plate readers and one of its flex cameras that can capture video last summer using a federal grant.

Now the police department is asking the city for $24,000 to continue to use the cameras after the grant ends. Platz suggested the funding come out of the fund balance, but Harmon said a city policy makes it inappropriate to fund the cameras through those existing funds.

Though councilors ultimately advanced the funding into the proposed budget, Councilor Rachel Randall and Councilor Mathieu Duvall opposed even considering the funding in the larger budget. The vote Monday was just to consider the camera funding in the larger budget; councilors still may decide against it.

4. Battle over library funding

Though councilors did not discuss library funding Monday night, the city is decreasing the amount of the library’s funding it is covering by about $37,000.

According to city calculations, Auburn property tax dollars have been subsidizing around $31,000 worth of services for Minot, which contracts with the library for services, and around $6,000 to nonresident card holders.

Already some Auburn and Minot residents have come out against the proposed cuts and think the city’s calculations are not an accurate reflection of the situation, setting up a possible battle.

The city covers more than three-quarters of the library’s budget, which comes out to more than $1.2 million. The city also lends the library the building and land it operates out of. The library’s contract with Minot is about $23,000 annually.

5. Another parks department?

Councilor Leroy Walker Sr. wants councilors to consider reinstating an independent parks department, though estimated cost figures to do so were not available Monday night.

The previous parks department was rolled into Public Works, which has a parks division within it, Crowell said. But Walker likes the idea of having a parks department with a small number of staff who only focus on city recreation spaces without worrying about being pulled away from that focus for other city services.

Councilors agreed to advance the idea into the larger budget and Crowell will pull together information about how much that is expected to cost.

The council budget workshops are scheduled for March 9, 16, 23 and 30 (tentative). The city manager’s final budget will be presented April 6, and though there is no official date to approve the city budget, it must be adopted by June 30 as required by city charter.