Lewiston budget workshop outlines tight FY27 plan as council debates a new public health officer and frozen positions

Lewiston city staff on Thursday presented a draft fiscal‑year 2027 budget that keeps a dozen full‑time positions frozen and asks councilors to weigh a new public health officer while officials pursue additional cost reductions.

Director Roy told the council the budget book (personal services and fringe on pages 16 and 28) carries 12 frozen full‑time positions for FY27 and includes one new health‑related position requested by administration. He said regular wages and fringe reflect settled contracts and anticipated step increases and that an accounting consolidation of utility charges produces a salary‑line credit that staff will reconcile as additional quarters of revenue come in.

The proposal keeps the frozen positions—two police officers, multiple highway workers and a mechanic—on the books rather than eliminating them, which administration said preserves the option to refill if revenues improve. "If revenues come back next year, we have the ability to unfreeze or fill those positions again," Roy said.

On the new public health officer, councilors debated whether to include, remove or newly freeze the position. Councilor Nene told colleagues the council should consider removing the request in a tight budget year, citing the broader tax and revaluation impacts on homeowners. Other councilors proposed a compromise: keep the position in the budget but freeze it immediately so the city retains the option to unfreeze if grant funding or revenue improves.

Administrator Brian Canrath said the administration has identified roughly $4.1 million in prior reductions and will present a "menu of options" for further cuts for council review. He also reminded the public that the first public hearing on the budget is scheduled for April 7 and encouraged residents to email concerns to the administration.

The workshop covered the remainder of the city general fund in department breakouts, including modest increases in mayoral and marketing costs, a small net decrease in city attorney budget offset by a new miscellaneous services line for investigator fees, and typical end‑of‑year election and clerk costs such as voting machine programming. Staff said many of the increases in non‑salary lines reflect recurring or contractual obligations that are not easily reduced without cutting positions or services.

The council and staff scheduled further workshops focused on revenue, economic development, TIFF and CDBG and will return with revised scenarios and additional options for council consideration.

The council is expected to take up formal budget votes after public hearings and the completion of revenue projections.