HALLOWELL — Four former mayors condemned the City Council, current Mayor George Lapointe and City Manager Gary Lamb for the budgeting process that led to an unexpected 20% property tax increase and failed attempts to reduce that tax impact.

The four most recent former Hallowell mayors, clockwise from top left, Tony Masciardi, Andy McPherson, Charlotte Warren and Mark Walker, released a statement this week condemning the City Council and Mayor George Lapointe for what they say was a botched budgeting process that led to an unexpected 20% property tax increase and failed efforts to reduce that tax impact. Collage from Photojoiner

Mayors Charlotte Warren, Mark Walker, Tony Masciadri and Andy McPherson — who led Hallowell from 2007–2021, when Lapointe took over — said in a letter to the Kennebec Journal they were dismayed that the City Council approved the budget in July without knowing for certain the tax increase it would cause.

“When over 120 citizens attended the Aug. 12 City Council meeting in reaction to their property tax bills, Mayor LaPointe stated he was as surprised as everyone else that the approved budget translated into such a large increase to taxpayers,” the letter said. “He and the City Council didn’t know the result because they didn’t have all the information. It is the job of the city manager to ‘manage’ the timing and data needs for the budget process. On all accounts he failed.”

Beginning at their Aug. 12 meeting, the City Council attempted to make cuts to the budget it passed in July, under the assumption that any cuts would directly correlate to a reduction in property taxes. The City Council approved a Lapointe-proposed slate of about $231,000 in cuts Aug. 12, which Lapointe said would reduce the tax increase to about 12%.

But, since the city’s Board of Assessors had already committed Hallowell’s taxes, the City Council learned in September, city leadership will not be able to adjust property taxes at all. Recommitting taxes is not legally viable without a procedural misstep, according to a memo from the city’s attorney released earlier this month.

The mayors wrote they were frustrated that Lapointe and Lamb did not fully understand this barrier to reducing taxes before assuring the public the City Council would be able to do so at the Aug. 12 meeting and afterward. That lack of understanding, the former mayors said, led to “broken promises” to Hallowell taxpayers.

“The budget snafu isn’t the only issue facing Hallowell,” the letter ends. “We are calling on the Hallowell mayor and city councilors to do better by restoring successful management of our city.”

Warren declined further comment, saying the mayors “have decided to let the letter stand.”

Scott Cooper, who is running unopposed to take the at-large City Council seat currently held by Maureen AuCoin, said the letter should be taken seriously, especially given the weight of the four mayors’ experience: more than a dozen years at the city’s helm.

“I will add my personal dismay with the budget process and this is one of the reasons I am running for the at-large seat on the city council,” Cooper said in an emailed statement. “If elected, I look forward to improving the budget process and ensuring that all of Hallowell’s citizens are fairly represented.”

Ward 1 candidate Karen Knox said the four remaining City Council candidates — who are all uncontested and who will make up more than half the council once they are sworn in — have been meeting regularly to discuss how to improve the budget schedule and get information out to residents as early as possible, especially from the city’s assessor. AuCoin has expressed similar concerns in recent meetings.

“People can’t make decisions and set up a budget in a vacuum of information,” Knox said. “They’ve got to get that information. And whose responsibility is that to get that information?”

Knox said she wants to see the city keep a regular record of Lamb’s performance going forward. The City Council has begun assigning a list of specific tasks to Lamb at the end of meetings — a level of micromanaging Knox said shouldn’t have to take place.

“Everything’s on the table,” Knox said, speaking for herself rather than the group of uncontested candidates. “If the issue does reveal itself to be the city manager, then we’re duty bound to do something about it. We don’t know. We haven’t been in the middle of it. We don’t know, but it’s a blank slate as far as we’re concerned. And it has to be because serving the citizens of Hallowell is, first and foremost, what our responsibility is.”