Full Text
PROPOSED MUNICIPAL BUDGET City of Lewiston FISCAL YEAR July 1, 2014 - June 30, 2015 CITY COUNCIL Robert E. Macdonald, Mayor Leslie Dubois, Ward I Donald A. D' Auteuil, Ward IT Nathan L. Libby, Ward IIT Doreen M. Christ, Ward IV Kristen Cloutier, Ward V Mark A. Cayer, Ward VI Michael Lachance, Ward VII Edward A. Barrett City Administrator Phil Nadeau Deputy City Administrator Heather A. Hunter Finance Director/Controller ---PAGE BREAK--- TABLE OF CONTENTS FINANCIAL SUMMARY AND STATISTICS BUDGET MESSAGE CAPITAL ITEM REQUESTS NEW PROGRAM OR SERVICE REQUESTS PERSONNEL ANALYSIS TAX RATE COMPUTATION REVENUES BY SOURCE BUDGET SUMMARY BY FUNCTION BUDGET SUMMARY BY CATEGORY GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES Legislative 41110 City Council Executive 41210 Mayor 41220 City Administrator 11 10 Economic Development Legal 41 31 O City Attorney Clerk & Elections 41410 City Clerk 41440 Elections Finance Department 41510 Finance Administration 41520 Purchasing 41530 Accounting & Auditing 41550 Treasurer & Tax Collector 41590 Central Services 41600 Management lnfonnation Services 41610 Assessing 41710 Human Resources General Government Buildings 41910 City Hall 41920 Violations Bureau 41930 Oak Street Parking Facility 41940 Canal StreetParking Garage 41950 Chestnut Street Parking Garage 41960 Southern Gateway Parking Garage 41970 Lincolln Street Parking Garage Police Department 42110 Police Administration 42120 Criminal Investigation Division (CID) 42130 Patrol 42160 Support Services Division 42190 Police Building 42910 Animal Control Officer PAGE 1 13 16 17 18 19 25 26 29 30 31 32 33 36 40 41 42 43 45 47 48 50 53 55 57 58 62 65 68 69 72 74 76 78 80 82 85 86 88 91 98 100 102 ---PAGE BREAK--- Fire Department 42210 Fire Administration 42220 Ftre Fighting 42230 Fire Communication 42250 Fire Prevention 42290 Fire Stations 42410 Code Enforcement & Planning 42810 Lewiston-Auburn Joint Emergency Operation Center (EOC) Public Works Department 43110 Public Works Administration 43210 Engineering 43310 Highways 43320 Snow Removal 43340 Sidewalks 43380 Street Lighting 43420 Waste Collection 43430 Waste Disposal 43440 Recycling 43510 Open Space & Treework 43610 Hydro-Electric 43810 Municipal Garage 43900 Public Buildings Administration 43910 Public Works Buildings 43920 City Owned Parcels Social Services Department 44210 Social Services Administration 44250 Social Services Recreation Department 4511 O Recreation Administration 45120 Recreation Programs 45190 Armory 45390 Multi-Purpose Center Building 45410 Senior Citizens Library Department 45510 Library Administration 45520 Circulation 45530 Technical Services/Catalog 45590 Library Building Debt Services 47110 Debt Services Principal 47210 Debt Services Interest 47510 Paying Agent Fees I ntergovernmentat 48110 L-A Airport 48120 Transit Subsidy 48130 9-1-1 Committee 48310 County Government PAGE 104 105 107 114 116 118 120 123 125 127 130 133 137 139 141 144 146 150 151 154 156 159 161 163 164 165 167 168 169 171 173 176 177 178 179 181 184 186 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 ---PAGE BREAK--- Miscellaneous 4911 0 Private & Parochial Schools 49210 Insurances 4931 O Retirement 4941 O Workers' Compensation & Unemployment Insurance 49510 Municipal Dues & Donations 49610 Tax Sharing - Auburn 49710 Reserve for Salaries 4981 O Contingencies 49910 Other Miscellaneous ENTERPRISE FUND Water Division Sewer Division Storm Water Divisiosn PAGE 198 199 200 201 202 203 206 207 208 209 211 225 239 ---PAGE BREAK--- Lewiston u.Amertca CIY ~1111' 2007 March 21, 2014 City of Lewiston, Executive Department EDWARD A. BARRETI City Administrator PHIL NADEAU Deputy City Administrator Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council: LA It's Happening Here! 1 • • '110• • •V • ti:•il The attached budget ls submitted in accordance with the applicable provisions of the City Charter. While it presents a complete spending plan for the coming year and could be adopted as presented, it should more appropriately be seen as a starting point for review and deliberation and as a vehicle for the presentation and discussion of numerous issues. What follows highlights significant changes from the current year's budget and addresses some of the on-going fiscal and operational challenges the City faces over the coming year. FISCAL CUMATE For the last four years, my discussion of the City's fiscal climate has focused on the lingering effects of the recession and the hopes that the economy would begin to show strong signs of growth leading to increasing state and local resources that would allow for growing local non-tax revenues and at least partial restoration of state support to municipalities. Each subsequent year has proven to be a disappointment, and the City's fiscal climate has continued to be challenging. Given this, it now appears that what we are experiencing has, in fact, become the new normal and is likely to continue into the foreseeable future. Non-property tax revenues have continued to decline or show meager growth. State funding has continued to fall, and this has become so expected that we celebrated a recent "victory" in restoring revenue sharing where we only saw a $260,000 cut. The state budget remains in a constant state of crisis, lurching from one supplemental budget to the next. In addition to reductions in municipal revenue sharing, other state property tax relief programs have been reduced, increasing the tax burden on many of our citizens. While the state continues to fail to meet its commitment to funding local education, it is mandating that school departments increase their local property tax funding to the state computed minimum local share over the next three years - in effect mandating an increase in local property taxes. Efforts to allow municipalities access to other revenue sources are repeatedly thwarted, even such minimal efforts as increasing fees set by the state for certain state mandated services. At the same time, our citizens continue to expect and at times demand the level of service that the City has historically provided and to look to the City to make the 1 ---PAGE BREAK--- investments necessary to support economic development, job creation, and income growth. Reduced non-property tax revenues, state funding cuts and mandates, reduced federal funding, citizen service expectations, increasing costs, and a relatively high current property tax rate create a fiscal environment where something has to give. Given this, the proposed budget is an unhappy compromise. It reduces Investments to support future economic growth to a bare minimum. It continues to rely on fund balance to address the highest priority and pressing capitaJ needs. It minimally funds basic maintenance. It does not address the need to add staff in areas struggling to keep up with service demands. And it raises property taxes. A TALE OF lWO ERAS It is instructive to compare the last four fiscal years (2010 to 2014) with the four prior fiscal years given that FYlO roughly represents the divide between a strong economy and a lingering recession. The following chart compares various budget indicators between these two periods. Percentage Change Percentage Change Category FY06 to FYlO FYlO to FY14 Operating Budget 5.6% -0.3% Debt Service 19.8 -9.8 Total Municipal Budget 9.2 -3.6 Non-Tax Revenues 2.5 -26.4 Assessed Value 17.5 2.8 Tax Rate -10.6 8.6 Between 2006 and 2010, the City's budget grew at an annual rate of between 2.0 and 3.5% per year. The city's assessed value grew by over $347 million, or just over of 17%. In spite of annual spending increases, growth in assessed value and a more moderate increase in non-property tax revenues allowed the City to reduce its share of the property tax rate by $1.72, or more than 10%. Now, fast forward to this year and look back over the period between 2014 and 2010. Over this 4 year period, the City's total budget fell by just over $1.1 million, or 3.6%. Non-tax revenues are down by over $4 million, or 26%. Assessed value has grown at a much more modest rate of 2.8%. The city side tax rate has increased by $1.25, or 8.6%. These two eras show clearly on the following graph that charts our city-only tax rate for the entire period. 2 ---PAGE BREAK--- I $16.SO $16.25 $16.00 $15.75 $15.50 $15.25 $15.00 $14,75 I 514.SO CITY REVENUES City Only Tax Rate 2006 1007 200S 2009 2010 2011 20U 2013 2014 Once again, total General Fund revenues are projected to decrease by $43,480 or 0.39%. While this is an improvement over recent years, it continues the downward trend which began in FYlO. Generally, most revenues have remained relatively flat with a few notable exceptions. Declining revenues include State Revenue Sharing (-$268,272), timber sales (-$31,000) reflecting the completion of our first round of maintenance harvesting on city properties, and state highway aid (-$30,000). These reductions have been offset by a projected increase in excise taxes ($155,000), one of the few bright points in the City's revenue picture, and an increase in General Assistance Reimbursement ($115,863) which, unfortunately, is representative of an anticipated increase in General Assistance expenses primarily related to asylum seekers. GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES Based on the initial budgets submitted, the City's various departments requested an additional $6,336,307 for FY15. This is a considerable increase over departmental requests made in recent years and reflects the actions taken in prior years to reduce maintenance and capital expenditures in light of budget concerns. The proposal before you reduces departmental requests by $4,791,723, or 9.8%. Please note, however, that some of the essential items eliminated from the operating budget are proposed to be funded from other sources as described below. At the same time, it is apparent that our continued effort to constrain the growth of general fund expenditures has resulted in an operating budget that leaves little room for error or flexibility for unanticipated expenditures or price increases. The proposed budget does not include any personnel reductions, recognizing the significant cuts that have been made in recent years and the increasing difficulty we face in meeting the service demands and expectations of the Council and the community. The following two charts show the dollar amount change in the budgets of the various departments and the percentage of the overall budget allocation that they represent. 3 ---PAGE BREAK--- 450000 Increase/Decrease in Recommended Budgets 400000 _ _ 350000 300000 250000 I 200000 - 150000 100000 50000 0 ·v0 ~ qO Major Budget Factors ,.i.,c,e