Waterville council to consider proposed $51.7 million budget

WATERVILLE — The City Council on Tuesday is scheduled to consider approving a $51.7 million municipal and school budget for 2022-23.

The special meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at The Elm at 21 College Ave. Those wanting to watch the meeting or take part remotely may do so via links on the city’s website, www.waterville-me.gov.

The budget, if approved, would cover the fiscal year that starts Friday and runs through June 30, 2023.

The council took a first vote June 21 to approve a proposed $51.6 million municipal and school budget. The municipal budget at the time was $23.16 million and the school budget $28.4 million.

At that meeting, council Chairperson Rebecca Green’s amendment to add $143,673 to the code enforcement budget for a code compliance officer and administrative assistant was approved and will be funded by federal American Rescue Plan Act money.

“This was added to the budget,” Assistant City Manager Bill Post said Monday in an email. “The budget, as amended, for the second reading is $51.7 million, including $23.3 million for the city and the same $28.4 for schools.”

The council must take two votes to finalize the budget and could take only one vote at last week’s meeting. Tuesday’s will be the final vote.

The council on Tuesday is expected to vote on a proposed amendment to the school budget to reflect a change in funding for adult education, from $503,915 to $505,494.

“This then reduces the general operating budget for the school to $27,931,884, but the total school funding remains the same,” Post said. “Adult ed portion of the budget is separated from the schools’ general operating budget on the budget order because of a requirement from the state.”

If the council approves the proposed municipal and school budget, the city’s tax rate, or mill rate, of $25.50 per $1,000 worth of property valuation will increase by 50 cents, to $26 per $1,000.

For example, a person who owns a property worth $100,000 would pay $2,600 in taxes, a $50 increase.

The current budget for 2021-22 is $46.5 million.

Increases in the municipal budget include pay hikes for all city departments to bring them in line with similar municipal salaries in the region. Increases in the school budget are driven by pay raises for teachers and educational technicians, and for medical insurance increases.

The city proposes to spend $1.72 million as part of a plan to hire eight firefighters who would also be emergency medical technicians or paramedics, and two administrative employees, including a deputy chief for emergency medical services and a training officer for firefighting and EMS.

City Manager Stephen Daly said projected revenues from the city having its own ambulance service would be $1.25 million, so the net cost to the city would be almost $500,000.

The city is able to offset some of the total budget increase because it received about $1 million more in revenue sharing from the state and about $1 million in increased aid for schools, according to Daly. He has recommended, as part of the proposal, that $2 million be taken out of the city’s reserve fund to help pay for increases.