02/26/09
Municipal budget proposes reduced spending, reduced services, reduced taxes
Town Manager Michael McGovern has submitted a draft $8.5 million budget for municipal services for fiscal year 2010,
The budget proposal is down $275,837, or 3.1 percent, from this year's.
Proposed spending is at approximately the same level as two years ago.
As McGovern promised the Town Council in December, the FY 2010 budget proposes reduced spending, reduced services and a reduced tax rate. The proposed budget poses a .5 percent decrease in property taxes for municipal services, a decline of 2 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or $65 to the average homeowner.
"For the first time in decades, positions will be eliminated with employees laid off involuntarily," McGovern says in his annual budget message to the council. "As the municipal financial situation is not likely to improve soon, measures need to be taken which are not one-time fixes," his budget message says.
McGovern will make his formal budget presentation to the council
at their meeting March 9, 2009, and will begin review in workshop sessions beginning March 19. (Click here for budget review schedule)
The budget contains few surprises and follows the strategies for meeting the goal of a no tax-increase budget announced in December 2008. At that time, McGovern reported a steady decline in revenue from sources other than property tax, which include excise taxes on motor-vehicle registration, building permit fees and Maine State Revenue Sharing.
Revenues from sources other than the property tax are projected to decline $300,000, or 8.7 percent, McGovern said in his budget message.
The first lines of the message say that budget in no way compromises the town's ability to provide key services "but services are provided with fewer employees, with assistance from regional partners and with continuing measures to ensure that our operations are as efficient as possible."
Foremost is a proposal for regional public safety dispatching, with an estimated savings of $132,000 annually. "The Town is actively studying two options for consolidation as of the time this is being written," McGovern's memo says. "One option is to join the Cumberland County center and the other is to merge with Portland and South Portland. The savings is known for the county option but more numbers are still being evaluated for the metro option," he says.
Other cost-saving measures discussed in his message include:
- Reducing police overtime by having the captain and other personnel work shifts;
- Reduce the full-time facilities manager position to half-time;
- Consolidation of positions in the town clerk's office;
- Elimination of heavy-item cleanup;
- Year-round collection of hazardous waste at the Recycling Center instead of once or twice a year;
- Energy savings and decrease in the number of street lights in town.
Other projected savings relate to reductions in personnel. The budget proposes a $231,609, or 5-percent, reduction in overall salary and wages due to fewer positions, McGovern's message says. Retirement costs and disability coverage is also down due to fewer positions.
Fee increases, goal to have Fort Williams self-sustaining
Proposals for fee increases are few, but include hikes for refuse disposal for certain materials, for commercial refuse-area permits, and in pool fees.
McGovern is also recommending that Fort Williams Park become self-sustaining in the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010. "My specific recommendation is that all funds generated within Fort Williams Park remain in the park for park maintenance, park operation and improvements," McGovern message says. "I recommend that the Town Council work with the Fort Williams Advisory Commission to approve income generating measures in the next few months and that all revenue generated in FY 2010 provide the corpus for the new fund and assist with implementation costs," the message says.
The budget also proposes doubling assessments of special fund revenues, such as Riverside Cemetery and Thomas Jordan Trust funds,
for indirect overhead to 3 percent, thus raising $31,000 more for the general fund.
Missing from the budget submission are funds that had been proposed for an additional half-time position at the Recycling Center. The employee would have
assisted with recycling and recycling education, at an estimated cost of $27,590. Instead, the budget includes $5,000 for a recycling educator to work at the Recycling Center.
New this year: Detailed backgrounds and blogging
New to McGovern's budget submission is detailed background information on municipal and special funds budgets.
Also new this year is an opportunity for residents to comment on the proposed budget through a weblog, or "blog", set up through Google's blog site
"It gives everyone an opportunity to interactively comment on the budget," McGovern said in a telephone interview. "And, people can do it somewhat anonymously," McGovern said. No registration is required to leave comments on the blog.
The budget blog is in keeping with a Town Council goal to enhance electronic communication with citizens.
To access the Town of Cape Elizabeth Municipal Budget blog, go to http://capeelizabethbudget09-10.blogspot.com/
More information on all areas of Cape Elizabeth's 2009-2010 budget proposals is available on this Web site's budget section.
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