Auburn budget woes for next year?

It looks like we'll have a 400K+ shortfall next year if things pan out like projections.

One thing that jumps out is 13% increase in health care payments for town employees (current and past).

Contributing to the anticipated increase in spending are 2.5 percent raises for town employees; a 13.26 percent increase in the town’s share of the health premiums for 621 current and retired town employees; interest for a loan needed to pay for capital or major equipment purchases; and higher fuel costs.

This is something that we have to pay attention to going forward, particularly when negotiating new contracts. Everyone wants a good deal but they've been giving away the farm on this one. Unless and until these costs come under control the town cannot afford to continue to foot the bill on rising premiums.

Also of note - the cost of the library appears to be closer to $16M according to the Auburn News, mostly because the process took so long. This happened with the high school also. It's a situation where the longer you put some of this off, the more it will cost. If the town wants to do this project they need to act on it. Otherwise, it should be downsized to something more affordable before it comes in like another school buildings project. For instance, do we know about the potential asbestos in the old structure like the high school? On the other side of it, if we really do need it let's get it done and going so things don't balloon out of control.

On the positive side, our Rep Paul Frost is trying to get us about $1M from the stabilization fund for next year. If that happens all of this is moot. OTOH, other things can change in budgets (for instance receipts and state aid go up and down) so stay tuned and watch your wallets!