The Augusta City Council agreed Tuesday to move forward with about $6.6 million in cuts to the proposed budget, slashing existing city and schools services to minimize a property tax increase on the city’s aging population.

A majority of council members agreed to the cuts to reduce what would needed to be raised through property tax to a 5% increase over last year. The resulting approximately $91 million budget would cut at least 20 positions in Augusta schools, including teachers; lay off some Lithgow Library employees; reduce the scope of Augusta’s paving programs; eliminate transportation contracts; and delay hiring for several public safety positions.

Almost $1 million of the city’s $3.4 million of reductions comes from using Tax Increment Financing funds — a program that allows certain projects to be paid for by sheltered tax income — in place of funds that would otherwise come from property tax.

Council members also agreed to eliminate their own stipend, totaling about $25,000, to fund the city-run pools during the summer.

Discussion about the need for drastic cuts centered on the potential impacts of an ongoing property revaluation — a legally required process to rebalance property tax burden based on market value.

Residences are expected to explode in assessed value; the last revaluation was done in 2006, and homes in the city are currently assessed, on average, at about 43% of their value. That means homeowners will likely assume a much larger portion of the tax base.

About $3 million, or about 47.5%, of the cuts would come from the Augusta School Department, a system already hit hard by position-slashing budget cycles in the past two years.

Earlier this spring, the school board brought forward a $45 million budget, which would have increased costs to Augusta taxpayers by about $3.2 million. Some city council members said that was much too high, and school board members came up with two lists of cuts during a meeting Monday, totaling $2.5 million or $3.9 million.

Superintendent Michael Tracy warned city council members Tuesday that any cuts beyond the smaller $2.5 million proposal would be catastrophic to the school system.

“I’m pleading with you that we have exhausted where we think we can go with $2.5 million,” Tracy said. “I’m taking the hits on the school side because I’ve made those recommendations to the school committee. We’ve cut 20 people, Mr. Mayor — 16 people last year. We’re over 35 people. I don’t know how we’re going to do it.”

A year ago, school officials faced a larger revenue shortfall than expected when they built the budget expecting the school department had more funds in reserve than it did. Administrators at the time said auditors provided them with figures from the 2022-23 school year — $3.4 million — rather than the money left over from the 2023-24 school year, which was about $450,000.

Ward 2 Councilor Kevin Judkins questioned why the school board decided to cut social workers, teachers and education technicians instead of administrators; Tracy responded that the schools are already light on administration positions, and that several were cut just last year. The $2.5 million included cutting a dean of students position and reclassifying a principal as an assistant principal.

Rather than choosing between the $2.5 million or $3.9 million list of cuts, a majority of councilors moved forward with $3.1 million in cuts to schools, aiming to reach a 5% increase to taxes.

Judkins, Ward 3 Councilor Michael Michaud, Ward 4 Councilor Eric Lind, At-Large Councilor Joshua Lilley and At-Large Councilor Annalee Morris-Polley agreed to stick to a 5% increase in funds to be raised from property tax, over the objections of At-Large councilors Stephanie Sienkiewicz and Courtney Gary-Allen.

“I think we are seeing that the cuts that we’re asking for are having classroom impact and impact on the quality of education in Augusta,” Sienkiewicz said. “I think that the value of the cut of the tax dollar is not the same as the cut in the value of education that we’d be harming.”

Ward 1 Councilor Eric Austin said he did not want to cut beyond the $2.5 million proposal for the schools — a number that would have kept the overall tax increase to about 6.3%, a 20 cent difference in the property tax rate.

For the median home with a Homestead Exemption, that adds up to about $48 per year.

Councilors Lind and Judkins, though, argued that older households on fixed incomes would not be able to afford funding schools and city services at any higher than a 5% increase. Any substantial increase is untenable as fuel, food and housing costs increase, they said.

“Ten dollars, $20, $30 matters to families,” Lind said. “It really does. I’m worried about the impact long-term.”

Councilors will hear the first reading of the budget Thursday, and will vote on the budget next Thursday, May 7. Public comment will be allowed at both meetings.

Augusta residents will still have a say in the school budget in the June 9 referendum.