LEWISTON – Schools dodged a last-ditch effort to trim an additional $340,000 from their budget Tuesday night.

Councilors adopted a $74.6 million budget, calling for increases in parking fees and fines and other city permits but level property taxes. Municipal departments would account for about $37.4 million of the budget, while the schools would account for about $37.1 million.

But Ward 4 Councilor Robert Connor said he thought another $340,000 could be cut from the school department’s budget. The School Committee overestimated how much they would need to pay for health insurance and workers compensation in early estimates, but later reduced both line items. Connors said the reductions – $144,000 less for workers compensation and $169,000 for health insurance – were not enough.

“These cuts would not affect programs,” Connors said. “They are simply asking for an appropriation that exceeds the need.”

School Superintendent Leon Levesque agreed some items in the school budget were higher than current estimates. Others, such as the budget for special education, were under-budgeted. Overall, the School Committee was asking for $122,000 less in property taxes than last year.

“We have presented a budget that increases only 2.53 percent,” Levesque said. “Further cuts would be a disservice to our organization.”

Councilors suggested the School Committee make sure line items in the budget were as close to actual estimates as possible, but turned back Connor’s proposed cuts.

Parking fee debate

Councilors also spent time debating proposed increases in parking fees. Under the new plan, exceeding time in an unmetered lot would cost $15, and fines for double parking or illegal overnight parking would quadruple to $20. In fact, just about every parking infraction would be more expensive.

Fines left unpaid for 15 days would double. That troubled Councilor Norm Rousseau.

“Already, the fines are increasing,” Rousseau said. “Then, if they don’t pay them, they go up even more. I’m afraid we’re going to hurt downtown businesses.”

But Councilor Mark Paradis thought it might help downtown businesses.

“I think it sends a good message,” he said. “If anything, it’s friendly to businesses because they’ll know there will be a place for people when they come there.”

Councilors passed the new parking fines and fee structure, increases to other city fees and permits and increased fees for trash collections on first reading. But those issues will be back before the council on second reading on June 1.

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