Council cuts and snips, removes $347,000 from budget
By Elizabeth Prata

Gray -- The Gray Town Council had proposed a Municipal budget representing a 14% increase over last fiscal year. At Town meeting on June 5, citizens okayed an increase, but only a 5% increase. The rest the Council would have to deal with removing.

Tuesday night the Town Council began that work, cutting and snipping items from the budget increase to meet the Town meeting mandate in time for Fiscal Year 2005 beginning July 1.

The first item was easy. Within twenty minutes, the Council had agreed that the proposed perimeter fence at the transfer station had to go, calling it "low hanging fruit." That lopped off $116,000. For the next hour and a half, the Council, minus the frequently-absent Richard Barter, discussed this and that item, eventually nearing their goal of a removing $392,000.

Items such as $50,000 for new sidewalks, (but not removing maintenance dollars) public works overtime, technology upgrades, (but maintaining integrity of Library computer improvements), cutting Library hours on Saturdays, etc. With only about $45,000 left to go, the next most obvious 'low-hanging fruit' was the unfilled Deputy Code Enforcement Officer position.
In the budget for the last two years but only filled for a few months, the position is aimed at aiding the current full-time CEO in inspections, enforcement, and Shoreland Zoning issues.

Councilor Gary Foster asked, "What will we not be able to accomplish next year with this position cut than we were able to do this year with the position unfilled?"

The Council said that wait times for applicants to receive a permit are lengthening and that they want to ensure adequate service and also appropriate enforcement. An additional part-time position would accomplish that.

Councilor Matt Sturgis is not so sure. He had been a staunch opponent of adding a position to that Department during the budget construction process, and now that the Council must cut, he said Monday night that the $52,000 in removing the unfilled position would close the gap.

"Rather than fine-tuning smaller numbers, you go after the bigger numbers first, and this is a big one," he said.

Councilor Lynn Olson replied, "Is that how it works, Skippy? Damn, I wish I'd known that."

Chair Pam Wilkinson is a staunch defender of keeping the position. Her concerns are that with the CEO tied up in permitting, inspections, and enforcement, that Shoreland Zoning issues are not as effectively addressed as they could be with another person helping.

The Council decided to continue their deliberations on that item at another meeting.

Olson had examined the revenues and noted that with eleven months in and one-month projections to go that most budget revenue lines were running over projections. More revenues were coming in than the Council had projected. The Council discussed tweaking the revenue projections for next year. For example, the excise tax had been projected to bring in 1.2 million, "But we are on track to collect 1.3 million with this year almost completed," Olson said. "When all is said and done we will realize about $200,000 more than we projected."

Foster and Sturgis both said that they didn't think the message at town meeting was to tweak revenues, it was for a more efficient government.
"But I am loathe to take apart the system until we see what will happen in November with Palesky and the other shoe drops," Olson said.

"I think that people all want shoes, just not Nikes," Sturgis replied.
The Council will continue discussing the budget increase reductions on Monday, June 28 at Stimson hall at 6 p.m. They want to have the FY 2005 budget ready to fully implement on July 1.

Below is a memo developed at the request of the Council by Town Manager Mitchell A. Berkowitz to frame the process of this year's budget reductions and future approaches to governance in the face of tax relief referenda and other mandates. It is a draft.

TOWN OF GRAY
TO: Gray Town Council
FROM: Town Manager
RE: Budget Reduction Process
DATE: June 22, 2004
The Town Meeting has spoken and now it is time to formulate a strategy that will meet those decisions. I have already asked that you look at this in the context of a much larger strategy which I would detail for you now. It is based upon some very important principles that would apply not only for the reduction we work on today but for any future reductions such as a 1% tax cap. It also speaks to the issue of local government's commitment to pass along any savings that arise from enhanced state revenues. Some of these have been selected from other Maine municipal leaders who have similar strategies for their communities.

We will demonstrate to every Gray Tax Payer that their local Government, Elected and Appointed officials:

--Are committed to tax relief
--Will effect reductions while maintaining the integrity of key services
--Can effectively control local government without the need of a tax cap
--Will work with the MSAD#15 to jointly meet these principles
--Will continue to work regionally for improved services and to apply regional pressure on Augusta to address tax reform
--Will communicate the decision making, results and changes necessary to keep local tax payers informed.

We will do this by the following actions:
#1 Any reductions of funding must be viewed as the will of the voters regardless of how we may feel.

#2 Our community has come to rely upon a variety of services that affect everyone in some way. The approach to reducing those services MUST be based upon a prioritization where the PUBLIC'S SAFETY AND WELFARE are considered first. This could mean that the priority in which we would cut increases as we go down our list of services: