Lewiston’s 2022 budget gets initial approval

The Lewiston City Council approved the first reading of its $104.9 million fiscal year 2022 budget Monday night, a number that dwarfs previous budgets by more than $40 million.

But almost all of that increase is because of generational investments in the city’s infrastructure that voters overwhelmingly approved in 2019. And while Councilor John Bradbury voted against the budget over his objections to some spending items, City Manager Alan Nygaard and other councilors hailed years of strategic budgeting work that put the city in position to make the investments.

“I am very pleased with this budget,” Nygaard said. “I am very proud of the City Council. I have to say that they have held on to a plan, and we started this plan quite a number of years ago. And to be able to come back to you and be able to show the level of investment that is being made back into the community, I think, is outstanding.”

Nygaard noted that the actual operating budget of the city has remained around $60 million over the last several years. And thanks largely to the infusion of coronavirus relief funding from the American Rescue Plan Act, the city is now in a position to tackle some of its most pressing street repair needs.

“The fact that we’ve been able to hold the operating budget to almost zero increases for a number of years, and to be able to actually make the needed improvements to the infrastructure of this community and have a plan forward for the arterial street program is really a tribute to the City Council to be able to show that you’ve been able to do this,” he said.

Councilor John Pernsteiner said he appreciated an open process that ties budget decisions to strategic plans, and the amount of work undertaken by city staff and paid consultants to craft those plans. He said that while property tax revenues will go up by 3 percent if the council ultimately gives the budget final approval in two weeks, the actual levy rate that determines the amount of tax each property owner will pay has decreased.

“That levy rate speaks to that transparency and diligence to be careful with taxpayer dollars,” he said, noting that the rate was .0098 percent when he started on council. It would be .0087 percent under the proposed budget. “That’s fiscal responsibility. When we talk about things like a 3 percent tax increase, that’s just on the total levy. That’s not individual responsibility. For four years straight now, we’ve either stayed flat or gone down. And that’s how we care for people’s taxes.”

Mayor Mike Collins also hailed the strategic budgetary approach ushered in by Nygaard.

“When I first started, it was a very competitive environment between the different departments fighting for money, if you will, with the council and trying to argue why their project was more important than others,” Collins said. “And that was just how it was set up. And so I appreciate the collaboration and the working together and trying to get a common vision. To me, that is far more productive and puts us on the same page of trying to move forward.”

Councilors, with the exception of Bradbury, also approved increases to water, wastewater and sanitation rates under a plan they adopted last year. The plan, which was crafted with the help of an externally conducted rate study, laid out smaller annual increases to help the city maintain and slowly upgrade its utilities with a focus on water and wastewater distribution and collection. Past councils had foregone any rate increases for years in a row, only to be forced to catch up with large rate increases in a single year.

For the 2022 fiscal year that begins in October, the council approved a 5.25 percent increase to water rates, a 3.5 percent increase to wastewater rates and a 3 percent increase to sanitation rates. According to a model of a typical city household presented by Public Works Director Dustin Johnson, the hikes would push a monthly utility bill from $114.82 to $119.52, an approximately 4 percent increase.

In other business:

Based on a motion by Bradbury, the council gave former Lewiston restaurateur Praveen Khurana another 44 days to do something about the burned-out shell of the Emperor of India King Thai restaurant that has blighted Main Street since a fire of undetermined cause destroyed it in December 2019.

The 10 business days the council gave Khurana to act officially expired Wednesday, but Khurana’s attorney, Gregory Rauch, came to the council to ask for a 90-day extension so he can pursue a lawsuit against his insurance company and take steps to stabilize the remains of the building.

Bradbury suggested that the city give Khurana 14 calendar days to allow the city building official to inspect the property so he can make an informed report on the dangers it presents to the public and adjacent properties, and then an additional 30 days to do something to abate the nuisance.

Bradbury asked the council if it may be time to readdress a city mask mandate to stem the spread of the delta strain of COVID-19, which has caused a sharp increase in cases in the health district over the last couple of weeks. Councilors said they would like an update from local public health officials before they take what promises to be a contentious step like bringing back a mask mandate, and Nygaard said he would arrange a briefing as soon as possible.

Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or at (208) 310-1901, ext. 2266.