AUBURN – Flat budget requests were the rule Monday night as the City Councils from Lewiston and Auburn reviewed the cities shared services.

Auburn councilors hosted the meeting as they reviewed spending requests for six shared services, ranging from buses and airports to arts and emergency.

Councilors heard reports from the groups – the Auburn Lewiston Municipal Airport, the Emergency Management Agency, L/A Arts, the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council, the LA Transit Committee and Lewiston Auburn 911. Individual councils will decided the fates of the budget on their own, as they review their own budgets.

But presenters Monday said they understood that times were tough and were keeping their budgets the same as last year.

“We are a growing airport, and I think we all know how tall a task it is to ask for the same budget for an airport that’s growing,” said Rick Cloutier, manager of the Auburn Lewiston Municipal Airport. He was asking for $153,250 from each council. In his recommendation to Lewiston councilors, Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett had suggested trimming another $5,000 of that budget. Lewiston’s Robert Reed, Tom Peters and Nelson Peters all suggested putting that money back.

“That’s entirely up to the council,” Bennett said. “But we have found other cuts in our budget discussions so far that we can put it back without too much trouble. But it’s up to you.”

Councilors were more concerned about a proposed $52,000 spending plan presented by L/A Arts Director Andrew Harris. That called for $28,080 from Lewiston and $24,267 from Auburn. Lewiston Councilor Nelson Peters said he would like to see arts become self-sustaining – like sporting events. They could have even sponsors and sell concessions.

But Harris said private groups do underwrite local art productions already, and that keeps ticket prices low.

“You find that the arts do make money in larger markets, like New York or Boston,” Harris said.

Councilors from both cities said they wanted to see more efficient use of the CityLink bus system. The LATC, operators of that system, are asking for $125,000 from each city – $5,000 less from each city than they received last year.

“I don’t see these buses being user friendly,” Lewiston’s Tom Peters said. He recommended switching to smaller buses and offering weekend routes.

LATC Chairman Phil Nadeau said his group had completed a study that looked at many of topics, and his group was eager to present findings to both councils. And Lewiston Councilor Tina Bailey, a member of the LATC’s board, suggested reinstating the $10,000 with a budget with a penny drive. If every resident of Lewiston-Auburn would bring in a few cents, the cities could fund the buses to the same level as last year.

Councilors came down hard on funding Lewiston-Auburn 911, the Twin Cities emergency dispatch center. That group was asking for $950,589 from each city. Auburn Councilor Ron Potvin said he objected to the center having the four dispatchers on duty over night – one each devoted to Lewiston Fire, Auburn Fire, Lewiston Police and Auburn Police – when the department has the fewest calls.

“I just think we’re overscheduled, I think you can trim one person,” Potvin said. “I’m just not buying it.”

Lewiston Councilor Larry Poulin said he believed the number of calls the center received, 136,539 in 2008, were inflated. Auburn Councilor Ray Berube agreed. Too many nonemergency calls ended up being directed through the center.

“I’ve never been an advocate for the 911 system,” Berube said. “In my day, we had different numbers for everything. If you wanted the police, they had a number and you called them. If you wanted the fire department, you called them. And if you needed the ambulance, that’s who you called and they had a guy who answered and took care of you.”

Councilors did avoid much of the drama from the Lewiston Council’s last two meetings, but Lewiston Councilor Robert Reed did apologize for harsh words directed at Auburn Mayor John Jenkins and City Manager Glenn Aho at Tuesday’s meeting. Reed had said he believed both men were dragging their feet, avoiding meeting and working with their Lewiston counterparts.

“Things have just gotten completely out of hand,” Reed said. “There were a lot of things going on that none of us knew about and it caused some unfortunate accidents and issues. The true friendships between these two councils and these communities can’t happen when things like that are going on. So I apologize for my comments and criticisms to the council and the mayor.”