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02/23/10
Municipal budget proposal for 2011 poses no spending increase, 3-cent tax rate reduction
Town Manager Michael McGovern has proposed an $8.5 million municipal budget for fiscal 2011. The budget proposes no increase in spending compared to this year, and offers a 3-cent reduction in the tax rate for municipal services.
"The challenge remains that revenues from sources other than the property tax remain at comparatively low levels," said Town Manager Michael McGovern, in his annual budget message to the Town Council. During the last 10 years, municipal spending has increased 28 percent and municipal revenue from sources other than the property tax decreased 9 percent, McGovern said.
But this year the Town has been able to lower energy costs and to utilize a competitive bidding environment so that. proposed spending for 2011 is flat, even at a time when consumer prices rose 2.6 percent in the 12 months before the budget was submitted.
The budget also addresses a number of areas that will need additional funding this coming year, McGovern said, including health insurance costs and capital outlays.
McGovern outlined several budget factors that have allowed the 2011 spending to remain at $8,533,254. These factors include:
- No pay adjustments for non-union staff or members of the Public Works employees bargaining unit;
- Debt service costs decreasing $151,332 due to bond refinancing and the retirement of debt;
- Cost of refuse disposal decreasing $79,961, as the amount of trash being placed in the transfer station hopper has decreased more than 10 percent;
- Street lighting costs decreasing more than $12,000, as last year’s street light reduction initiative was more effective than planned. The Town has bid out energy costs for the power supply for the remaining lights;
- Electricity cost for the community pool is down $18,000 from $65,000 to $47,000.
"We also have been aggressively obtaining bids for a number of other services to take advantage of a more competitive bid environment, McGovern said. "On this latter point, I wish to give special recognition to all of the department heads and the staff who are adjusting to our budget restraints while maintaining exceptional services to our citizens," McGovern's message says.
Most significant among spending increases proposed for next year covers a 13-percent rise in health insurance costs. The $66,000 increase stems from a 7-percent rate increase, and changes in marital status among staff, McGovern said.
Other increases include:
- Unemployment insurance costs up from $3,200 to $16,500;
- General assistance, the Town's program for local families and individuals in need, up from a budgeted $12,000 in FY 2010 to $25,000 in FY 2011;
- The collective bargaining agreement with the Cape Elizabeth Police Benevolent Association results in about $30,000 in additional costs spread over several lines in the budget;
- Family Fun Day is provided $5,000 after no budgeted funding in fiscal 2010;
- And, in order to begin to better meet infrastructure needs as identified in the recent Town Municipal Infrastructure Stewardship Plan, the amount provided for capital outlay items is increased by a proposed $66,178.
McGovern will formally present the budget proposal, which does not include school, county or Community Services expenditures, to the Town Council at their meeting March 8. The council will review the budget in public sessions beginning Thursday, March 11, 7 p.m. in the William H. Jordan Conference Room at Town Hall, 320 Ocean House Road. Click here to view budget review schedule.
The budget submitted to the council does not consider potential savings realized through the work of the Health Benefits Review Committee, the Municipal Operations Review Committee or the Alternative Energy Committee. "As of this writing on February 22, 2010, no reports have yet been received from these committees," McGovern said. Neither does the budget book any revenues from pending policy considerations, including pay/display parking at Fort Williams Park or pay-per-throw at the Recycling Center.
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