Hallowell City Hall, photographed in March 2016. Andy Molloy/Kennebec Journal file

HALLOWELL — Residents upset at the 20% increase in property taxes and the inability of the City Council to soften its impact vented their frustration at councilors Monday.

Monday’s meeting was the council’s first since members learned that the city could not lower taxes this fiscal year, angering residents who organized a petition asking councilors to overturn the budget approved in July and give residents some tax relief.

As a result of the pushback from residents, the council worked for nearly two months to make budget cuts under the assumption that those cuts would correlate to a reduction in the tax increase.

However, a memo from City Solicitor Amy Tchao recently confirmed the city cannot undo the tax commitment the city’s Board of Assessors signed following the City Council’s budget approval in July. Taxpayers are required to pay the 20% increase.

Larry Davis, one of the residents who circulated the petition, said during public comment on the budget that he was concerned the budget was approved by the council in July without complete knowledge about the extent of the tax increase. City officials initially estimated the tax increase would be about 16%, but the increase ended up at an average of about 20%.

Davis also said he was frustrated that the City Council has not been able to officially cut the budget, despite voting to rescind its budget approval in August in response to the residents’ petition.

“I watched you vote, and you voted to reduce the budget,” Davis said. “You made a promise to us all. That vote is a promise to the citizens — that because we signed that petition, you voted to reduce the budget so you have a reduction in taxes.”

John McNaughton, another Hallowell resident who organized the petition, said the looming tax increase should have forced the council to make more cuts before the budget was passed initially. He said he was concerned that big expenditures — including a proposed new public works building — would put pressure on upcoming budgets, too.

More concerning McNaughton said, was that not all council members attended the final budget approval meeting, and there was a general lack of public notification about the budget leading up to the approval of the tax increase.

“Even if it was a postcard that had been sent out to say, ‘Hey, everybody, this is getting close and this could mean a significant increase. We invite you in so that you can see,'” McNaughton said. “I’d like to see that the actual document that you’re working off of is available real-time for anybody who goes onto the website to view it, so they can ask questions.”

Ward 2 Councilor Michael Frett Jeff Wood Imagery

Ward 2 Councilor Michael Frett, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor George Lapointe, said all city meetings are public and that he was not sure what more the city could do to advertise meetings.

Frett also said allowing the council to decide when to send mailers to the public about a meeting could be a slippery slope. The council, he said, knew little more than the public about the tax increase until close to the budget’s approval.

At-Large Councilor Maureen AuCoin said future councils should learn from this year’s process and try to receive important information as early as possible. AuCoin has served on the council since 2012, but she is not running for reelection this November.

At-Large Councilor Maureen AuCoin Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file

“I hope future councils make sure they know the fiscal impact before committing taxes,” AuCoin said. “It’s so important to know what that number is, and I hope that future councils get the information from the assessors earlier in the process and get all of the information before moving forward.”

Councilors put off any decisions on potential remedies for taxpayers until at least their next meeting, on Nov. 12.