Gardiner city councilors approved an $8.3 million city budget that is not, expected to increase taxes.

However, Gardiner property owners will see their taxes go up as Gardiner’s $5.6 million share of the School Administrative District 11 budget is up by $415,000, or 8.05%. Thatmeans the owner of a $200,000 home, now taxed at $5,260 a year in Gardiner, will see a $206.14 increase in their property tax bill.

But, with passage of the city budget June 17, city spending is not expected to require a tax increase.

The budget passed in a split, 6-2 vote, with the two councilors, Tim Cusick, at-large, and Veronica Babcock, District 2, voting against. They expressed concerns the zero-tax-increase budget is short-sighted and could cause the city to fall behind and leave the city short on resources longer term.

Cusick said at the June 17 meeting he was voting against the budget, in its second and final reading, because he did not agree with a zero-tax-increase budget. At the June 3 first reading of the budget, Cusick explained, “We’ve talked in the past that we should never be at zero on a budget increase, because we fall behind. I have a problem with the city continually going to zero, or next to nothing, because we feel we can’t pass that tax on to the citizens of Gardiner. It bothers me the school district continues — and I understand they have bills, too — they continue to go up. I hate to see us continue, and I’ve done it in the past, voted for zero (increase). And it always comes back to bite us because we have to adjust the following year.”

Cusick expressed concern the city was using too much of its fund balance — an account made up of funds unspent in previous years and kept on hand in case of emergency, to help fund this year’s budget.

But Denise Brown, finance director, said the budget includes $600,000 from fund balance, the same as the current year’s budget. And even taking that money from the account would still leave a remaining fund balance of 18% of the total budget, falling within auditors’ recommendations that between 16.6% and 25% of the budget be maintained in the fund balance.

Brown said city spending is increased in the budget, from just under $8 million to just under $8.3 million, but that is offset by the city receiving about $250,000 more in state revenue sharing, and by the city having paid off debt that was previously costing it about $150,000 a year.

Mayor Patricia Hart said city staff and the council worked hard to limit the impact of the budget on taxpayers.

“This is a tough economy and everybody is facing gas prices that are up, food that is up, no one is getting big raises, people are losing their jobs to all the federal cuts and other hardships,” Hart said.

The budget does not include funding for two additional firefighter/paramedic positions requested by fire Chief Rick Sieberg to help staff the city’s fire department and regional ambulance service. That change, Brown said, cut $54,000 from the fire department budget, and reduces Gardiner’s share of the regional ambulance service, which also services seven surrounding communities, by $38,000.

Councilors also approved a 5% sewer rate increase, in a unanimous vote, to help pay for about $2.2 million for wastewater projects.

Brown said the increase will raise the base sewer rate from $148.82 to $156.26

The city is required by the state Department of Environmental Protection to upgrade the sewer system as part of its licensing of the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which discharges into the Kennebec River. The approved plan for those upgrades includes about $7 million worth of projects, with a timeline set by DEP for their completion.

Brown said the increased sewer rates will take effect in July and show up in customer’s bills in October.