Town Manager Peter Joseph will begin the months-long process of adopting a 2016 municipal budget on Feb. 26, when he sends a five-year capital budget draft to the Town Council.

The Town Council in turn will discuss the five-year capital program when it meets on Tuesday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. Many workshops and council meetings will follow, until the council votes on the capital, tax-increment financing (TIF) and operating budgets on June 16. FY 2014.

The town managed a slight (.14 percent) reduction in this year’s municipal budget, going from $8,978,235 in 2014 to $8,965,659 in 2015.

The one-year capital budget took a big hike, in large part for road reconstruction on Wardtown Road. The nearly $2.7 million in capital spending represents a significant increase from last year, when the town spent $945,100 on capital improvements.

Melanie Sachs, Town Council chairwoman, said Friday that she had no preliminary figures on this year’s municipal budgets. Jessica Maloy, town finance director, agreed that no numbers would be available until Town Manager Peter Joseph releases the five-year capital plan on Thursday, Feb. 26.

Sachs explained the difference in the various budgets, and how the Town Council votes on them.

“We certainly look at this year’s capital budget, but we also look five years out,” Sachs said. “It’s a planning tool. Peter will roll that out on March 3. We talk about the capital and then we talk about the operating, and we don’t vote on the entire package until June 16.”

With Gov. Paul LePage proposing to eliminate state revenue sharing, and a proposal to change the Business Equipment Tax Rebate program, Joseph and Sachs were busy last week at the State House, testifying before the Legislature against both changes.

Sachs spoke to the Committees on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, as well as Taxation.

“I am before you today to express my deep concern that the governor’s proposal to convert property currently enrolled in the Business Equipment Tax Rebate (BETR) program into the Business Equipment Tax Exemption (BETE) would have a significant negative financial effect on the town of Freeport,” Sachs said. “This conversion would be phased in over four years, so the full effects would not be seen until (for year) 2019. Freeport’s town assessor estimates that the loss this revenue to the town could be as high as $450,000 per year once the conversion is fully enacted in (for year) 2019, particularly as it is targeting the equipment purchased by the retail industry, which is heavily represented in Freeport.”

To put $450,000 in perspective, Sachs said, “this amount of money is enough to fund the yearly operation of the Freeport Community Library ($443,000 a year), or five months of operation of the Freeport Police Department ($1,088,000 a year).”

“This loss would be in addition to the estimated $316,000 loss to the town should the proposed elimination of the municipal revenue sharing program be approved. Taken together, these revenue losses would total approximately 8.5 percent of the town’s operating budget, and could add up to 55 cents to the local property tax rate, which would cost the median residential property owner (a $220,000 house) approximately $125 per year in additional taxes.”

She urged the members of the committees to reject the governor’s proposals and the “continued evisceration of the revenue-sharing program.”

Joseph also spoke at a joint meeting of the Appropriations and Taxation committees. He told the Tri-Town Weekly on Monday thst LePage’s proposals to eliminate state revenue-sharing, tax nonprofits and eliminate the state income tax are “a shell game.” The Town Council will discuss those issues at its March 3 meeting, Joseph said, and could vote to make some sort of declaration, or sentiment.

Freeport received $690,000 in state revenue sharing in 2008, and that amount has steadily been eroding, Joseph said.

“If the state eliminates revenue sharing completely, it would be a loss of approximately $320,000 to the town,” Joseph said. “We’ve already been reduced by more than half that since 2008.”

Joseph said he sees no upside to such a switch in tax policy.

“Assuming that the town budget stays flat and that state budget stays flat,” he said, “it would shift the tax burden to the local property tax.”

Town Manager Peter Joseph will begin the months-long process of adopting a 2016 municipal budget on Feb. 26, when he sends a five-year capital budget draft to the Town Council.

The Town Council in turn will discuss the five-year capital program when it meets on Tuesday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. Many workshops and council meetings will follow, until the council votes on the capital, tax-increment financing (TIF) and operating budgets on June 16. FY 2014.

The town managed a slight (.14 percent) reduction in this year’s municipal budget, going from $8,978,235 in 2014 to $8,965,659 in 2015.

The one-year capital budget took a big hike, in large part for road reconstruction on Wardtown Road. The nearly $2.7 million in capital spending represents a significant increase from last year, when the town spent $945,100 on capital improvements.

Melanie Sachs, Town Council chairwoman, said Friday that she had no preliminary figures on this year’s municipal budgets. Jessica Maloy, town finance director, agreed that no numbers would be available until Town Manager Peter Joseph releases the five-year capital plan on Thursday, Feb. 26.

Sachs explained the difference in the various budgets, and how the Town Council votes on them.

“We certainly look at this year’s capital budget, but we also look five years out,” Sachs said. “It’s a planning tool. Peter will roll that out on March 3. We talk about the capital and then we talk about the operating, and we don’t vote on the entire package until June 16.”

With Gov. Paul LePage proposing to eliminate state revenue sharing, and a proposal to change the Business Equipment Tax Rebate program, Joseph and Sachs were busy last week at the State House, testifying before the Legislature against both changes.

Sachs spoke to the Committees on Appropriations and Financial Affairs, as well as Taxation.

“I am before you today to express my deep concern that the governor’s proposal to convert property currently enrolled in the Business Equipment Tax Rebate (BETR) program into the Business Equipment Tax Exemption (BETE) would have a significant negative financial effect on the town of Freeport,” Sachs said. “This conversion would be phased in over four years, so the full effects would not be seen until (for year) 2019. Freeport’s town assessor estimates that the loss this revenue to the town could be as high as $450,000 per year once the conversion is fully enacted in (for year) 2019, particularly as it is targeting the equipment purchased by the retail industry, which is heavily represented in Freeport.”

To put $450,000 in perspective, Sachs said, “this amount of money is enough to fund the yearly operation of the Freeport Community Library ($443,000 a year), or five months of operation of the Freeport Police Department ($1,088,000 a year).”

“This loss would be in addition to the estimated $316,000 loss to the town should the proposed elimination of the municipal revenue sharing program be approved. Taken together, these revenue losses would total approximately 8.5 percent of the town’s operating budget, and could add up to 55 cents to the local property tax rate, which would cost the median residential property owner (a $220,000 house) approximately $125 per year in additional taxes.”

She urged the members of the committees to reject the governor’s proposals and the “continued evisceration of the revenue-sharing program.”

Joseph also spoke at a joint meeting of the Appropriations and Taxation committees. He told the Tri-Town Weekly on Monday thst LePage’s proposals to eliminate state revenue-sharing, tax nonprofits and eliminate the state income tax are “a shell game.” The Town Council will discuss those issues at its March 3 meeting, Joseph said, and could vote to make some sort of declaration, or sentiment.

Freeport received $690,000 in state revenue sharing in 2008, and that amount has steadily been eroding, Joseph said.

“If the state eliminates revenue sharing completely, it would be a loss of approximately $320,000 to the town,” Joseph said. “We’ve already been reduced by more than half that since 2008.”

Joseph said he sees no upside to such a switch in tax policy.

“Assuming that the town budget stays flat and that state budget stays flat,” he said, “it would shift the tax burden to the local property tax.”