Tax rate dropped for second consecutive year
The Lebanon Board of Selectmen are proud to announce that the tax rate for 2010-2011 has dropped for a second consecutive year. The tax rate has been set at $12.75, which is down 25 cents from the 2009-2010 tax rate of $13.00 per thousand. The tax rate/mil rate for 2008-2009 was $13.85 per thousand.
"The three selectmen have worked hard over the past couple of years trimming budgets in each department, cutting the size of government and looking for any areas that we could operate more efficiently. Even this year with less state aid and increased county and school budgets, we made significant enough cuts to still come in with a lower tax rate then last year and $1.10 less then just 2 years ago." Chairman Jason Cole stated on behalf of the Board of Selectmen.
The town hall has seen the elimination of one full time position, an elimination of a part-time clerk and a reduction of a full time position to a part time position. The town hall operated with 5 1/2 positions a short time ago, and now it operates with 3 1/2. We have been closely watching for any problems with waits or customer service issues, but have not seen any yet. Residents have expressed appreciation for the necessary but difficult cuts to save tax increases. Residents have said they would rather wait in line a little longer then lose their houses because they couldn't afford their taxes. The town now offers many services on line.
"One of my biggest goals when I was elected was to bring Rapid Renewal to Lebanon, which allows residents to re-register most vehicles from the convenience of their homes 24 hours a day, which also reduces the walk-in traffic to the town hall. Many services now can be done on-line, which also has reduced the walk-in traffic." Chairman Cole added.
"The difficult thing being a selectman is seeing the amount of people who go through the lien process and come close to having the towns take their houses for back taxes. That's the last thing we want to see and we understand people are struggling paying everyday costs, so the three selectmen decided to make difficult decisions to ensure a lower tax rate." Chairman Cole added.
Even though the tax rate has been cut, some residents may see a very small tax increase due to state cuts in the Homestead reimbursements. Residents who saw a $11,830 homestead exemption in 2009-2010 will only see a $9,100 tax exemption this year. While the majority of Lebanon residents will see a tax decrease, there will be a small amount of residents who have smaller tax bills that will see a small increase of about $10.00 to $20.00 for the year.
Even with the cuts, the Selectmen did add extra money to this years highway department budget to start working on the roads that have suffered for years.
Some other things done to reduce budgets include switching phone companies for all town buildings to save money in each of their budgets, increased revenue at the transfer station from the workers encouraging recycling and also breaking down larger items to allow more into the containers, cutting mileage reimbursement for selectmen and some department heads that received it, a large savings from energy efficiency improvements at the rescue station that has dropped energy costs by over 50% since just 2002, consolidating cell phone plans to offer better savings to the town, joining cooperative purchasing agreements for many items, cutting timber selectively on town owned property continual use of dedicated volunteers throughout the community.
Selectmen met with Ron Smith from the towns auditing firm on Tuesday, August 24th to set the tax rate and update the selectmen on the town finances. The auditor advised the Selectmen that the town is in the best financial shape it has been in several years. The town has built up a sufficient enough fund to continue town operations for about 75 days, which is above the target of 60 days the town previously had.
"We want to make sure that we keep sufficient enough money in the general fund for the difficult budget years ahead of us with the potential of even more state cuts. We were able to keep the fund up and still lower the tax rate based on good financial planning.
“In this economy, it is crucial that we give relief to homeowners who may be struggling from spiraling property taxes and give our businesses one less spiraling cost to deal with. It has truly been a team effort. We would like to thank the town employees and volunteers for their work on this difficult budget and budget cuts, but we feel we can continue offering quality services more efficiently and at less of a cost to the great citizens of our community." Chairman Cole added.
Three years ago the town saw a dramatic jump in taxes from $10.30 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year to the $13.85 in fiscal year 2008-2009. Most of this was attributed to three years of school and county increases and the town using surplus money to keep the tax rate stable, and it was also before the town had hired the current auditor who cautioned the town on doing what they had in the past.
"In the end, we are in the best financial shape we have been for 3 years, we have been able to cut the tax rate the past two years, we have reduced the size of our town hall staff by about a 1/3 and we are still looking for ways that we can continue to make the town run more efficiently while still offering the services the residents need and deserve. The selectmen met over 40 times during the budget process cutting budgets, trimming anything we could and working with the department heads to find more efficient ways to run the town. All three selectmen wanted to see this tax rate cut and we worked hard for it, I am glad that even with the higher school and county budgets, we were able to cut the tax rate. This was a team effort and I am proud of the team! " Chairman Cole added.
Now starts the planning for the 2011-2012 budgets and we will start meeting with departments in December.
Tax bills should be sent out the first week of September and will also be available to view on-line at www.lebanon-me.org around the same time.
Jason A. Cole
Chairman - Lebanon Board of Selectman
Town of Lebanon, Maine
15 Upper Guinea Road
Lebanon, Maine 04027
Cell Phone: (207) 608-5615
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