News

Council reduces budget increase
Expected increase less than 3%, final tally almost ready
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray- On Monday night the calculators were clicking and the pens were flying at the Gray Council budget workshop. The Council and Manager tweaked the projected revenues a bit higher and reduced expected expenditures a bit lower, cut and chopped, paring the initial 25% proposed budget increase to less than 3%.

The largest adjustment to the projected revenues was a bump up in projected excise taxes. The Council forecasts that these taxes will come in at 1.2 million, not the $1,110,000 first projected. The basis for that boost was "based on the actual for FY (fiscal year) '03 as well as the YTD (year to date) and projected FY 04, said Councilor Lynn Olson. The Council also looked at what might happen in the next 15 months with the economy and whether can the Town live with that estimate.

For excise tax, last year's revenues in at $1,203,897; YTD through February was $807,286. This led the Council to predict that revenues would again be $1,200,000 for FY04. The Council noted that the auto dealers are still offering incentives, cars are going up in price and more homes are being added to Gray, each bringing cars with them. "Keeping this revenue line flat into FY05 then does not require a huge leap of faith, but the Manager is on record as saying this would not have been his recommendation but he would bow to our decision," Olson said.

The Manager budget delivered to the Council on March 2 contained several proposals for new positions, a Deputy Code Enforcement Officer among them. The Council chopped those new proposed positions in their early drafts, but Monday night heard a presentation from Gray CEO Mark Stambach.

Stambach noted that every ordinance change, code, shoreland enforcement, and permit must come through his office, currently a one-man show. He wanted to be able to serve the public in as efficient a manner as possible. He said that it sometimes takes as long as two weeks to issue a permit. He spends half his days in the office doing the necessary paperwork and the other half in the field doing inspections. "Although it can vary widely from day to day," Stambach said.

The Council decided to put the Deputy CEO position back in the proposed budget. Chair Pam Wilkinson was especially concerned with ensuring that lakefront owners adhere to shoreland zoning requirements.

The budget process is ongoing, and is a work inprogress. There is a public informational hearing on the budget at the Council meeting on April 20. There is a formal public hearing on the budget on May 4th. This is the meeting that approves the budget for Town Meeting. Information will be exchanged at the May 4 meeting but the budget will not change at that point. Town Meeting is June 5th.