LEWISTON — The city’s property tax rate will go up another 36 cents, councilors agreed Tuesday.
Councilors approved a budget amendment Tuesday that both increases property tax collections for the current year another 1.5 percent while cutting $404,000 from the city operations.
City Administrator Ed Barrett said the budget changes come in response to cuts in Revenue Sharing approved by the state Legislature last month.
“We adopted a budget in May based, in part, on the state behaving in a certain fashion,” Barrett said. “The state did not behave in that fashion.”
The City Council’s original budget, approved in May, set the tax rate at about $26.05 per $1,000 of property value — a $39 increase on the tax bill for a $150,000 home.
Legislators approved the state’s budget at the end of June and included a $70 million reduction in state revenue sharing. That’s money from sales tax and other state revenues paid to Maine cities and towns for general fund spending.
In Lewiston, revenue sharing cuts amounted to $1.1 million.
Councilors agreed to make budget cuts to take care of part of that lost revenue and raise the property tax rate to $26.44 per $1,000 of value to cover the rest. For homes valued at $150,000, that’s $97 more than they paid last year and $58.50 more than councilors approved in the original budget.
The city will leave vacant positions unfilled for at least three to six months, as part of the spending cuts, to save $257,000. The city is also expecting additional revenue from the state for General Assistance reimbursements. It would reduce its share of funding to L-A 911, the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport, Great Falls TV, would save money on an old city pension plan and would reduce the amount of taxes it shares with Auburn.
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