I am pleased to submit to the City Council today, Saturday, April 9, my budget for the city of Westbrook’s fiscal year 2005/2006. As mentioned in my first budget message last year, one of my objectives as the leader of your city was to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of Westbrook’s municipal operations. Last year was a year of many changes, including the consolidation of the former Public Works and Parks, Cemeteries and Forestry departments into the new Public Services Department, contracting the administration of the General Assistance Program to the Westbrook Housing Authority, sharing a city assessor with the city of South Portland and outsourcing legal services to a private firm. It was a year of finding ways to do things differently and reducing administrative overhead costs, without reducing programs or services to the community. Generally, I believe we achieved that goal and took a step toward my vision of making Westbrook economically vibrant and affordable. The work has not stopped and this budget reflects a painstaking effort to reduce the tax burden to you, our residents.

Based on our analysis of LD 1 and the various components of the property tax reform package adopted by the Maine State Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Baldacci in January, it is abundantly clear that the only way to achieve any semblance of property tax relief for Westbrook property taxpayers is to control local spending. Therefore, I am submitting a budget for fiscal year 2006 that reflects no increase in operating expenditures. This level funded operating budget includes all municipal departments and the school department.

On Nov. 18, 2004, I sent a memo to the chairman of the School Committee, superintendent of schools and city administrator, providing them with timely and very specific economic guidelines as they began preparation of their 2006 budget requests. My directive was simple, that operating expenses for the upcoming budget year could not be any higher than those of their existing budgets. This guideline excluded any previously approved debt obligations and the cost of the county tax. Debt obligations for both city and school yield an increase of $842,344, and the county tax, which was set by the Cumberland County Commissioners last December, reflects an increase of $10,165.

My 2006 budget, as presented, proposes a total expenditure level of $47,399,446. While all operating expenses are level funded, this growth of $957,420, or 2 percent, reflects the increased cost for debt service ($842,255), the county tax increase ($10,165) and the net cost for the operation of the Davan Swimming Pool ($105,000). Non-property tax revenues total $20,360,571 up $1,893,906 or an impressive 9.3 percent increase above current year revenues. School revenue is up $2,151,899 due to the significant increase in state funding for education. Municipal revenue is down by $262,814 due primarily to the revenue shortfall of the Downtown TIF. The net increase in the amount to be raised from property taxes is $931,665. With a projected $20 million dollar growth in city-wide property valuation, the budget as submitted will result in a $1.18 or 5 percent decrease in the property tax rate.

Westbrook is in the unique position of being one of the big winners in the state’s allocation of funding for education this year. This revenue increase of more than $2.1 million provides us with a rare opportunity to actually reduce the property tax burden for our residents and businesses. However, if we choose to dramatically increase our spending, we will squander this property tax relief opportunity.

I recognize that the budgetary process requires difficult and sometimes painful deliberations, prioritizing our needs and desires as a community. However, as the elected leadership of this city, we have agreed to take on that obligation. Having directly participated in much of this process with the municipal departments, I fully understand that there are many valuable and deserving programs and services that will not receive the full funding they desire. This budget is not just about cutting spending, it is about prioritizing our limited resources, economizing operations where appropriate and, where necessary, strengthening others. Much of the ground work done last year through consolidation of departments and operations, and the corresponding reductions in staffing, have proven highly beneficial as we struggled to reach this year’s goal of level spending.

The continued streamlining of management in the Public Services Department has enabled us to eliminate one more administrative level position and fund a much-needed mechanic in the central garage.

The physical consolidation of police, fire, rescue and emergency dispatch into the new public safety building has enabled us to eliminate one clerical support position and fund an additional police officer.

Savings achieved through the consolidation of all custodial and building maintenance into a single department (shared with the schools) has helped cover the cost of an additional building maintenance position.

Realignment of engineering, planning and code enforcement into a single department has greatly enhanced the project review and inspections process and, with city council support of new ordinance language, will replace property tax funding of these services with expanded permit and inspection fees.

Consolidation of Assessing operations into a single location will allow us to continue to reduce costs through a service contract with South Portland, while preserving a satellite office and enhanced customer service outreach to Westbrook taxpayers.

Continued expansion of cross-training and inter-departmental support between finance and the City Clerk’s Office has enabled us to eliminate a part-time clerical position.

There are some critically important items that I have chosen not to include in this year’s budget. There is no proposal for a “pay-per-bag” trash collection and curbside recycling program. We continue to be committed to reducing the volume and cost of trash disposal for our community through increased recycling. Based on our research and the experiences of other communities, a “pay-per-bag” or “pay-as-you-throw” system is the most effective way to achieve this goal. However, I am equally committed to working with the City Council to develop the most appropriate program for our city. We will continue to research and evaluate other systems with the goal of achieving cost savings through improved recycling without placing additional tax burdens on our citizens. I have included in this budget a modification in our weekly curbside trash collection program, limiting that service to single family residences and multi-family properties up to four (4) units. This will require city council support of an ordinance amendment that will bring us in line with service standards as they exist in other cities. This change alone reduces our trash disposal costs by an estimated $38,000.

I have also not included funding for a much-needed citywide property revaluation in this budget proposal. Earlier this year, we brought forward a proposal to undertake revaluation in conjunction with the conversion of our assessing system to a modernized software program. That would have been the city’s most cost-effective approach to revaluation at a cost of $160,000 to $175,000. However, that proposal was not approved. To undertake such an update during the next fiscal year, as we finalize and troubleshoot the new software system, would be both difficult logistically and more expensive. Additionally, the city of South Portland is conducting their revaluation this coming year, and it would be virtually impossible for the city assessor to oversee two revaluations simultaneously. Therefore, we have chosen to wait one more year before we undertake our revaluation. We continue to recommend the less costly external inspection process as the more cost-effective approach, particularly with the increased capabilities and accuracy of our new software package. I also propose placing $80,000 in a revaluation reserve account in order to reduce the amount we will have to appropriate in the 2007 budget to fund the project.

This budget also postpones filling the currently vacant library director position at the Walker Memorial Library until January 1, 2006. The Walker Library Board of Regents is currently working with the Warren Memorial Library board of trustees on an independent analysis of the two libraries. The purpose of this examination is to determine if opportunities for closer coordination and improved collaboration between the two libraries could enhance the programs each offer to the public in a more efficient and cost-effective fashion. I do not feel it would be prudent to move forward with this important hiring decision until the study is completed and recommendations are presented. Through the dedicated and very capable staff at the Walker Library, the patrons continue to receive a high level of quality service during this interim period. All other aspects of the library budget have been funded at or above current year levels.

This budget also continues to make necessary capital investments in our city’s equipment, facilities and infrastructure. The operating budget includes funding for the replacement of three police cruisers and a 1997 rescue vehicle. This begins to address vehicle replacement programs that have been under-funded in recent years. Failure to adequately fund these equipment needs will begin to compromise both safety and service levels in these crucial public safety departments. A proposed bond issue will fund major equipment replacement in Public Services and the Fire/Rescue Department. The bond will also provide much needed funding for street paving and repairs and will begin the planning and engineering process for an upgraded Public Services garage facility.

This budget also provides the sobering, but much needed financial discipline of balancing the revenue shortfall of the under-performing Downtown Tax Increment Financing District. That TIF district has accumulated an un-funded deficit in excess of $400,000 over the past three years. I am proposing to fund this deficit using the proceeds from our recent sale of the former police station property.

While my directive to the School Department to flat-fund their expenses at 2005 budget levels will no doubt be met with resistance and paint me as “anti-education,” the majority of our taxpayers, our senior citizens and those faced with the struggles of staying financially solvent, cannot continue to fund our school system at the levels they have been accustomed to. The 2006 budget request submitted to me by the School Committee proposes a 6.5 percent increase in spending over the current year – the largest school spending increase in over five years! We cannot increase spending simply because we have increased state revenues. These additional resources must be applied to tax relief for our needy and very deserving taxpayers. The use of state funding increases to reduce the property tax burden in Westbrook was unanimously endorsed by the City Council on September 13, 2004, when they publicly pledged that 100 percent of all new funding from the state to help fund education would be directly applied to reductions in the property tax rate.

This is my second budget as mayor of this great city. I have proven that I am serious about controlling spending for the municipal departments, and I ask the school department to embrace that same serious consideration. And I ask for taxpayer support as we all work to make Westbrook a truly affordable city for all.