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\t\t\tCracks in the surface of Rice Rips Road near Sacha Lane in Oakland on Tuesday. Despite upcoming cuts to the town’s paving budget, the road will be paved in early summer. (Joe Phelan\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCracks in the surface of Rice Rips Road near Sacha Lane in Oakland on Tuesday. Despite upcoming cuts to the town’s paving budget, the road will be paved in early summer. (Joe Phelan\/Staff Photographer)<\/p>\n
Amid the first property revaluation in 30 years, Oakland officials are proposing a spending plan that accounts for rising costs but keeps spending tight.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good budget,\u201d Oakland Town Manager Kelly Pinney-Michaud said. \u201cBut it\u2019s bare bones.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the spending plan adds a new police officer and public safety costs rise, officials also plan to cut the paving budget by more than 50%.<\/p>\n
Oakland\u2019s Town Council signed a warrant article when proposing to spend $8,846,880. This is a 4.1% increase on the current budget. <\/p>\n
Of this amount, $4,742,287 will come from property taxes, which is almost 20% more than the current budget, according to the town\u2019s budget summary. Other costs are covered by the state\u2019s revenue sharing and the town\u2019s revenues, which come in part from licenses and permits, intergovernmental revenue, service fees, excise tax on vehicles and other sources.<\/p>\n
Town officials estimate $500,000 will come from new valuation tax revenue, and $283,183 of the amount will be raised through taxation. The town\u2019s property tax rate of $15.62 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, also known as a mill rate, would increase to $16.09 with this proposal.<\/p>\n
However, the mill rate is expected to fall to about $9 or $10 with the new valuation, Pinney-Michaud said. Generally with a revaluation, Pinney-Michaud said residents can expect a third of houses to increase in value, a third to decrease and a third to stay the same.<\/p>\n
Because of these uncertainties, the town kept increases minimal, with the net increase in spending for the municipal budget coming in at 1.6%, Pinney-Michaud said.<\/p>\n
The new full-time patrol officer on the police force would mean a detective who currently spends half her time as a patrol officer could become a full-time detective. Michelle Fontaine, a member of the budget committee, said the committee was convinced that a new patrol officer was necessary, pointing out that balancing interviewing victims with running out to traffic stops is difficult.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was also causing a lot of overtime for everybody in that department,\u201d Fontaine said. <\/p>\n
Much of the money being paid out for overtime would pay for a new patrol officer. However, she said some people were upset that the need for a new officer came up only after the initial budget review was done.<\/p>\n
The expected increase to the police department\u2019s budget is just over $183,000, about 10%. <\/p>\n