AUBURN — A last-minute effort to better define how timber sale profits will be spent failed Monday as councilors adopted new woodlot rules.

Councilors voted to put timber sales money into a discretionary account that they control. That will allow future city councils to use those profits to pay for the low-income heating program Community Cords, or put the money to a different use.

Auburn has 480 acres of publicly owned timberland. Harvests are scheduled on a few parcels every few years. The most recent harvest was in 2013 on school-controlled land and generated about $30,000.

The city has sold excess wood on lots, including schools, cemeteries and public land such as Mt. Apatite, and used the proceeds to fund a low-income heating program since the fall of 2008.

The Community Cords fund has $27,000.

On Monday, councilors adopted an update formalizing much of the process —spelling out how the timber harvest will be approved, scheduled and managed — but also changed the way proceeds were used. Instead of going directly to Community Cords, it now goes into a discretionary fund.

Councilor Grady Burns suggested an amendment to put the money into a fund dedicated to supporting Auburn’s urban forest and for the Community Cords program.

“My strongest interest here is to create an account that reflects the priorities of this document without handcuffing the city to a specific funding formula,” Burns said.

Burns’ amendment failed, with only Burns and Councilor Jim Pross voting in favor of it. Councilors adopted the original proposal 7-0, approving it for the second and final time.

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