LEWISTON — Councilors agreed Tuesday that the city should continue providing General Assistance payments to people with questionable immigration statuses until new state rules are more clear.

But several councilors and Mayor Robert Macdonald signaled that they would be happy to stop providing General Assistance money to asylum seekers and others who do not have proper papers.

They are too much of a burden on local property taxpayers, Macdonald said.

“I think we are getting the short end of the stick here,” Macdonald said. “Who is pitying these poor elderly people who can’t afford to buy their medications? But everybody else gets help. We have people that are here legally and they get help, but why should we be forced to help someone who just jumped the fence?”

Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services sent a memo Monday that changed eligibility standards for the General Assistance cash grants issued by municipalities to people in dire economic circumstances. The money can be used for food, rent, medicine and utilities.

The state reimburses Maine’s municipalities for 50 percent of the General Assistance funds they provide. Now, DHHS wants to disallow the use of state funds for General Assistance that’s distributed to “illegal immigrants.”

City Administrator Ed Barrett said the city received an email from the state just after 5 p.m. Monday that provided some guidance.

According to that email, city staff must ask all residents if they are U.S. citizens. People who are unlawfully present aliens, including people with expired visas, noncitizens who are awaiting asylum or refugee status, those with expired 90-day immigration arrival forms or people who simply have no papers, no longer qualify for General Assistance.

Barrett said the memo is not clear if cities that continue to provide those people with financial aid could face state sanctions, but it is clear the state will no longer repay the city for any payments made to unlawfully present aliens.

The rule also leaves the city without cover if someone is denied financial help and decides to file a lawsuit.

“I am going to say this is an inappropriate situation for the state of Maine to put us in,” Barrett said. “All of this should have been worked out at the state level and not dumped in our laps to be hashed out one day after we get the notice from the state that does not give us the guidance we need to not make mistakes.”

Sue Charron, Lewiston’s social services director, said her department turned away 12 people Tuesday and asked them to come back Wednesday, pending the council’s discussion. She said her office was supposed to begin using a DHHS form Monday that she had not received yet.

She said she asked DHHS if a person with a resident alien card fit the new standards Tuesday, but the department has not responded.

“They did not know and haven’t gotten back to me,” Charron said. “So we are putting people at risk who may be eligible and are certainly in need. So we need some advice on how we are going to go on.”

Councilors agreed to review the matter more fully at their July 15 meeting — sooner if more state direction is released. Until then, they advised staff to keep providing General Assistance payments.

“Before we jump into this, before we stick the city’s neck out there and expose our selves to litigation, we should not make any changes until some of these big questions get answered,” Councilor Nate Libby said.

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