There were no major cuts or additions to the city budget on Monday night as the City Council’s Finance Committee began its work on Mayor Bruce Chuluda’s proposed budget.

At a meeting Monday night, the committee made some small adjustments to the revenue portion of the budget, while reserving action on other areas for later in the process.

The committee voted, 7-0, to increase revenues for the downtown TIF district by $60,000, from $110,000 to $170,000. City Administrator Jerre Bryant explained to the councilors that the additional revenue came about because of a larger than anticipated growth in valuation in the downtown TIF area, thanks mostly to the increased value of the new Hannaford store on William Clarke Drive, which is included in the TIF district.

Councilors also voted, 7-0, to add another $5,000 to the revenue line for the sale of cemetery burial plots in the city. Bryant explained that sales of burial plots were higher than originally anticipated, and the administration wanted to reflect those increased revenues in the overall budget.

However, the council also voted, 7-0, to eliminate $60,000 of revenue that had previously come from lease payments by the School Department to the city for portable classrooms. Bryant told councilors that several years ago the city and the School Department, with approval of the City Council, entered into an agreement whereby the schools would transfer ownership of the portable classrooms to the city and then lease them back from the city. Bryant said the School Department would get money from the state to cover the cost of the lease. Bryant said the payments from the state to the School Department are ending this fiscal year, and he said since the arrangement was a way to get more state money for the city, there was no reason for the school to continue making the lease payments from the city now that the payments from the state have ended.

The overall net effect of the council’s actions was to add $5,000 in revenues to the administration’s proposed $27 million budget.

While the committee took no other action Monday night, councilors discussed the city’s debt service and the police, fire, dispatch and Public Safety Building budgets. Although councilors did not make any motions to add or subtract anything from those budgets, Council President Jim Violette indicated that he had some concerns with several items on the proposed municipal bond issue.

Violette said he was especially concerned with the administration’s proposal to borrow $245,000 for street paving in the city. He said he felt that cost should be part of the regular operating budget, and he did not believe he would be able to support that part of the proposed bond issue.

The meeting Monday night was the first of two back-to-back meetings for the Finance Committee. The committee was also scheduled to meet Tuesday night, after the American Journal’s press time to discuss the Public Services Department budget as well as the budgets for the Walker Memorial Library and the Recreation Department.

The Finance Committee has two other budget meetings scheduled. Those meetings are scheduled for May 19 and May 23. The full agenda for both meetings can be found on the American Journal’s Web site at www.keepmecurrent.com. All Finance Committee meetings will be held at 7 p.m. in room 114 of Westbrook High School and will also be televised on cable channel 3.