Lewiston council signals support for at least "tier 3" budget cuts; administrators to prepare staff notifications

Administrator Kane Rath told the council that staff had developed additional amendment scenarios to reduce the proposed budget beyond previously identified savings and that the council's recent direction had been to produce firm bottom-line figures for possible cuts.

Rath emphasized legal constraints: collective bargaining agreements and employment law require careful procedures and employee notice before any layoffs. He said the city attorney advised that a list of potentially affected employees could not be provided at this moment in executive session and that staff would work with legal and HR to assemble lists and follow proper notice procedures. "We also, in general, certainly don't want anyone to learn that they're losing their job in the newspaper or by watching this meeting on TV," Rath said.

Councilors debated trade-offs. Several members noted personnel costs are the largest share of the operating budget and argued that deeper cuts are needed to achieve meaningful savings. Others said cutting positions will reduce services and cause hardship; Councilor Roy said he did not want to put people out of work, while Councilor Chittum said some level of cuts may be unavoidable to prevent larger tax increases. Councilor Nagy suggested a target of a 3'3.5% reduction in operating expenses as a compromise.

On specific line items, Director Roy (finance) told the council the LATC vehicle replacement reserve holds roughly $562,006 (Lewiston's share) and that the city chose a 12-month fixed-price fuel contract (e.g., $2.49 for gasoline, $2.98 for diesel) to avoid market pass-throughs. Councilors discussed fund balance (about 10.1% undesignated) and whether a one-time use could soften tax impacts; finance cautioned that using fund balance for ongoing operating expenses risks fiscal stress in subsequent years.

Administrator Rath and staff reported a working consensus that the council was prepared to pursue at least "tier 3" reductions; Rath said staff would begin legal and HR work to identify impacted positions and to draft notification and severance options if required. He warned that once the notification process starts it becomes difficult to reverse.

Next steps: staff will work with legal counsel and HR to prepare lists and notification timelines, refine dollar figures for Tier 3 cuts, and present options and any proposed amendments at the next public meeting; administrators and councilors emphasized transparency about process constraints and commitments to minimize service loss where possible.