BELFAST - Even before Regional School Unit 20 hit major budget troubles, City Manager Joe Slocum regularly took pains to remind Belfast residents that only a fraction of their property tax bills — just under 29-percent last year — was to pay for city government. His 2014-15 budget message listed comparative figures for the county and school district, but on Tuesday he said this year he’s looking at the city’s budget on its own terms.

“I’m not even paying attention to the school budget,” he said.

Slocum’s draft 2014-15 budget would result in a 7-percent increase in the city’s portion of property tax bills. This would equate to a 2-percent increase in the total, not counting any changes in county and RSU 20 shares.

From 2009 to 2011 the city spent half of its $4 million surplus absorbing increases in the school district’s share of local tax bills. The move was meant as a stopgap to keep the tax rate in check. Last year the Council stopped this practice, yet still managed to lay claim to a flat budget, if not a flat tax bill.

In his budget message released last week, Slocum said he originally planned to send the Council a draft budget with an 11-percent increase. On Monday he said he made additional cuts despite reservations about challenging the requests of department heads. In some cases, he said, he made the cuts but encouraged staff to make their best case for restored funding at the Council’s budget sessions, which are currently underway.

The $8.5 million bottom line proposed by the city manager would be up $286,339 from last year. The difference factors in revenues, which account for around half of the budget and are projected to increase by $100,000 in the coming year.

The largest change in expenses is a $168,577 increase in health insurance premiums, however, Slocum said the jump followed three consecutive years of declining premiums. “That’s right, our premiums actually dropped every year for the last 3 years and now our ‘Claim Experience’ is catching up with us,” he wrote in his budget message. The city also underbudgeted last year for one month of premiums, or $55,000, he said.

The state has projected a $21,000 increase in Municipal Revenue Sharing for Belfast in the coming year. The increase would head off a five year trend in which payments from the state dropped from $900,000 in 2009 to just above $300,000 last year.

The loss of state revenue partly accounts for previous Council decisions to draw from surplus. As a result of this and generally cut expenses over the past five years, Slocum said the city hasn’t set aside as much money in reserve accounts. This has resulted in what he called an “uneven practice” across departments.

Some, like Parks and Recreation and the Library, have been better at advocating for socking away small amounts of money in their “rainy day” funds, he said, while others like the Police, Fire and Public Works Departments have line items to put aside money for certain big expenses, like new vehicles, but don’t necessarily have savings to cover a new boiler or roof.

Budget workshops are scheduled to be held on May 1, 5 and tentatively on May 7 or 8, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at City Hall. 

View the complete draft budget and city manager’s budget message here.

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com