HALLOWELL — Four former mayors condemned the City Council, current Mayor George Lapointe and City Manager Gary Lamb for the budget process that led to a unexpected 20% property tax increase and failed attempts to reduce that fiscal impact.
Hallowell’s four most recent former mayors, clockwise from top left, Tony Masciardi, Andy McPherson, Charlotte Warren and Mark Walker, issued a statement this week condemning the City Council and Mayor George Lapointe for what they say was a botched budget process that led to an unexpected 20% property tax increase and failed efforts to reduce that fiscal hit. Photojoiner Collage
Mayors Charlotte Warren, Mark Walker, Tony Masciadri and Andy McPherson, who led Hallowell from 2007 to 2021, when Lapointe took office, said they were dismayed that the City Council approved the budget in July without knowing for sure the tax increase that would follow. would cause.
“When more than 120 citizens attended the August 12 city council meeting in reaction to his property tax bills, Mayor LaPointe stated that he was as surprised as everyone else that the approved budget resulted in such a large increase for taxpayers,” the letter said. “He and the city council did not know the result because they did not have all the information. It is the city manager’s job to “manage” the timing and data needs for the budget process. In every aspect it failed.”
Starting in your August 12 meetingThe City Council attempted to make cuts to the budget it passed in July, under the assumption that any cuts would directly correlate to a reduction in property taxes. The City Council approved a list proposed by Lapointe of about $231,000 in cuts on Aug. 12, which Lapointe said would reduce the tax increase to about 12%.
But, since the city’s Board of Assessors had already pledged Hallowell’s taxes, The City Council learned in Septembercity leadership will not be able to adjust property taxes at all. Recommitting taxes is not legally viable without a procedural erroraccording to a memo from the city attorney released earlier this month.
The mayors wrote They were frustrated that Lapointe and Lamb did not fully understand this barrier to reducing taxes before assuring the public that the City Council could do so at the August 12 meeting and after. That lack of understanding, the former mayors said, led to “broken promises” to Hallowell taxpayers.
“The budget problem is not the only problem Hallowell faces,” the letter ends. “We call on the Mayor and City Councilors of Hallowell to improve and restore the successful management of our city.”
Warren declined to comment further, saying the mayors “have decided to let the letter stand.”
Scott Cooper, who is running unopposed to fill the at-large City Council seat currently held by Maureen AuCoin, said the letter should be taken seriously, especially given the weight of experience of the four mayors — more than a dozen of years in charge of the city. .
“I will add my personal dismay with the budget process and this is one of the reasons I am running for the at-large seat on the city council,” Cooper said in an emailed statement. “If elected, I hope to improve the budget process and ensure that all citizens of Hallowell are fairly represented.”
District 1 candidate Karen Knox said the four remaining The City Council candidates, who have no competition and will make up more than half of the council once they are sworn in, have been meeting regularly to discuss how to improve the budget timeline and get information to residents as quickly as possible, especially about the city assessor. AuCoin has expressed similar concerns in recent meetings.
“People can’t make decisions and set a budget without information,” Knox said. “They have to get that information. And whose responsibility is it to obtain that information?
Knox said he wants the city to keep a regular record of Lamb’s performance in the future. The City Council has begun assigning a list of specific tasks to Lamb at the end of meetings, a level of micromanagement that Knox said should not take place.
“Everything is on the table,” Knox said, speak for herself and not for the group of undisputed candidates. “If the problem turns out to be the city manager, then we have a duty to do something about it. We don’t know. We haven’t been in the middle of this. We don’t know, but as far as we’re concerned it’s a blank slate. And it has to be that way because serving the citizens of Hallowell is, above all, our responsibility.”
