AUBURN – The City Council is expected to adopt a budget Monday that will eliminate 12 jobs and cut funding for the annual spring cleanup.

The School Department made its final cuts Wednesday night, paring $1.4 million from its spending plan to level-fund the budget.

Now it’s the city’s turn. Councilors still need to trim $507,000 from the municipal side to keep the budget from growing.

“At first, staff will be the only ones to feel the difference,” said City Manager Pat Finnigan. “But they will be felt in the community. It just may take a while.”

Councilors are scheduled to vote on the budget after a public hearing at 7 p.m. Monday, June 21, in the Auburn City Building.

Level tax rate

Declining revenues accounted for most of the budget problems for both the city and the schools. In addition to decreases in state revenue sharing and General Purpose Aid to Education, the Legislature cut aid to Auburn schools by another $134,000 in May.

City officials also blame poor return on their investments. In all, declining state aid and interest accounted for a $944,000 drop in revenue.

Higher property taxes could have made up the difference, but the City Council was adamant about keeping the tax rate the same as last year.

That means the School Department won’t get the $1.4 million increase it asked for, and city administrators won’t get a requested $447,000 increase. Instead, the school budget will stay at $29.7 million, the same as fiscal year 2003-04. The city’s budget will go down by $60,554, for a new total of $29 million.

The schools will lose 16 teachers and another nine positions. On the city side, Finnigan has cut 12 positions to balance her budget. She proposes eliminating these positions:

• Two Public Works maintenance workers

• A police information assistant

• A Health and Social Services administrative assistant

• A part-time computer technician and Web site specialist

• A building inspector and a city electrician

• A personal property tax assessor

• A part-time city receptionist

• A fire prevention officer

• The City Building janitor.

“We’re doing away with specialists,” Finnigan said. “Everybody that’s still here is going to have to do multiple jobs.”

Some services are going to suffer, she said. “The phones may not be answered on the first ring all the time. It may take longer to get some city permits. That kind of thing.”

The decision to eliminate two patrol officers last year left a serious hole in the Police Department, she said.

This year, she plans to replace those officers with two who are currently stationed full-time at Auburn Middle and Edward Little High schools. Those officers will continue to work out of the schools, but they will patrol other parts of the city as well. A third school officer will still be assigned full-time to the schools.

Public projects

Some of the biggest cuts will be felt in Public Works. Two unfilled maintenance worker positions have been cut, and two jobs belonging to workers serving with the National Guard in Iraq won’t be filled until they return.

Two more maintenance workers will be permanently assigned to city recycling jobs. That means the city’s crew of maintenance workers effectively is down by six for the next year.

Finnigan expects an increase in complaints from residents. “We try and respond to problems like broken tree branches or sidewalk heaves within a few weeks. But we won’t have the people to make those repairs in as timely a manner.”

Spring cleanup, an annual event in which city crews haul off bulky trash, will go away entirely because of those cuts.

“If we don’t have the people to spare for projects, we certainly don’t have them to spare for spring cleanup,” Finnigan said.

[email protected]