Lebanon
The budget, which amounts to $11.9 million in new spending, was adopted in short order by councilors, who passed the measure by issuing 13 individual resolutions in under an hour.
No councilors spoke in opposition of the spending proposal, and no members of the public attended Wednesday’s meeting at City Hall.
“If the meeting seems brief, it’s not because of a lack of preparation or interest,” Mayor Sue Prentiss told an audience largely made up of department heads. She added that the budget process begins as early as April and is followed up by several fall work sessions.
“What we have before us tonight is months and months of work, not just one evening,” she said, before councilors took turns reading the list of resolutions.
City officials largely attribute the spending increase to capital improvement projects, which are slated to cost about $20.1 million next year, an uptick of roughly $8 million, or more than 65 percent.
Of that amount, about $11.9 million will be used for ongoing projects, such as improvements on the Mascoma Street Bridge, sewer monitoring and replacement of the former rail tunnel under downtown.
The tunnel is currently closed to pedestrians but officials hope it will provide a key link in the future Mascoma River Greenway, a rail trail connecting downtown to West Lebanon.
The combined sewer overflow project — a $69 million effort to separate sewer and stormwater from Lebanon’s sewer system — also is included in that figure. A total of $8.2 million will be devoted to the federally mandated project next year.
Projects to replace the compactor at the Lebanon landfill and start a gas-to-energy project there will cost $4.1 million. And nearly $2 million will be earmarked for projects starting next year, including water treatment facility upgrades, work on the police station’s HVAC system and airport safety improvements.
While spending is expected to grow by 21 percent, officials say property owners can expect a significantly smaller tax increase.
The budget projects $22 million would be raised through taxation, an increase of about $608,000. Another $14.1 million would be raised through fees and $8.3 million would come from transferring money from existing accounts.
Those changes would result in a 27 cent increase in the municipal tax rate to $10.97 per $1,000 of a property’s assessed value. That would amount to a 2018 tax bill of $2,742 for a single-family home valued at $250,000, a $67 increase.
Lebanon’s municipal budget is only one part of residents’ total tax bill, which also includes local school district taxes, state school taxes and county taxes.
The budget also includes several slight personnel changes, which are expected to add about six full-time equivalent positions on top of an existing staff of about 177 employees.
Two new firefighters and police officers will join their departments’ rosters with the help of federal grant funding. The city also has allocated money to hire a part-time assistant in human services, and some part-time hours will be adjusted in Lebanon libraries.
The budget also calls for bonding about $11.3 million and raising another $4 million through contributions from other government organizations.
City officials are keeping an eye on Lebanon’s debt service, which will require $7.5 million in payments next year. That’s an increase of $216,000, and officials predict payments will continue to rise into future years.
Long-term debt payments are projected to increase to $11.7 million by 2020, partially because of the CSO, according to budget documents. And nearly half that amount is expected to be supported through property taxes.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.