Lewiston officials, Somalis meet
Copyright © 2002 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
LEWISTON — City officials met Tuesday with Somali elders in an attempt to ease fears raised last week by Mayor Laurier Raymond's controversial letter asking them to stem the flow of Somalis into the city.
At the same time, city officials tried to lend credence to Raymond's concern that Lewiston's budget has been strained by an estimated 1,060 Somalis who have moved here since February 2001.
Citing projections of a $900 million state deficit and a $200 billion federal deficit, city officials say they cannot count on continued state and federal funding to help Somalis and other immigrants in the future.
City Administrator James Bennett and Assistant City Administrator Phil Nadeau met with several Somali elders Tuesday afternoon. A follow-up meeting is scheduled Thursday afternoon.
"We reassured them that day-to-day service delivery hasn't changed," Bennett said. "We wanted to begin to talk about missteps people have taken and what it's done to all of us."
Raymond did not attend Tuesday's meeting. In his letter last week, the mayor asked Somali elders to meet with him on Oct. 24. But at a press conference Monday, Somali elders asked to meet sooner.
A secretary at Raymond's law office on Park Street said the mayor had no plans to meet earlier with Somalis or to respond to their request for an apology and a retraction of his letter.
Somali elders declined to talk about Tuesday's meeting. "It was a preliminary meeting," said Mohammed Abdi, a Somali who works in the city's schools. "It would be premature to discuss it at this time."
In an open letter to Somali elders last week, Raymond wrote: "To date, we have found the funds to accommodate the situation. A continued increased demand will tax the city's finances ... The Somali community must exercise some discipline and reduce the stress on our limited finances and our generosity."
Despite the loaded language of Raymond's letter, Bennett and Nadeau said the mayor's worries about the city's finances are factual.
Programs and services for immigrants — mostly Somalis —added $382,250 to Lewiston's budget this year, including English language classes and housing and food assistance. That's the projected cost after the city receives an estimated $180,000 reimbursement from the state, and in addition to more than $500,000 in federal money allocated to help Somalis make a new home in Lewiston. Many Somalis are former refugees who have moved to this city of 36,000 from other states in search of better schools, less crime and a small-city lifestyle.
"That (federal money) insulated us to a certain degree and it allowed us to do a good job so far," Nadeau said. "But is that level of funding always going to be there?"
Faced with a possible $32 property tax rate last spring, city officials cut a variety of programs, including Little League funding and 12 positions, which meant Bennett had to lay off eight people.
"And we're not done," Bennett said. "I was lucky to get (the tax rate) down to $28.85 (per $1,000 property value). It's not the Somalis' fault, but those are the facts. It's not about skin color. It's about resources."
Bennett noted that the percentage of Somalis receiving general assistance services dropped from 13 percent of general assistance clients in August to 6 percent in September. The number of Somalis applying for general assistance dropped from 72 people in August to 11 people in September.
"That says what we're doing is working," Bennett said. "They're not dependent on city coffers, so we're getting there."
Bennett said lawmakers must realize that outdated state and federal funding policies often penalize cities and towns that have attracted immigrants. While federal immigration policy brings in people who need special services, it doesn't fully compensate cities and towns who must provide those services, he said.
For instance, funding for school buildings is based on the projected number of births in a community. And funding for English as a Second Language programs is based on what a community spent on ESL programs three years ago. Neither policy makes allowances for a sudden influx of secondary migrants like the Somalis in Lewiston.
As a result, Bennett said, the funding issue often intensifies conflicts between newcomers and taxpayers.