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Councilor proposes reset to Lincoln’s FY2027 budget, cites five years without completed audits
Summary
A councilor urged the town to adopt a 'zero-based' reset that benchmarks FY2027 to FY2021 plus a 34% uplift, lists department-level appropriations and argues for more detailed audits and department data before raising taxes.
A councilor told the Lincoln Town Council the administration has not produced the zero-based budget the council requested and proposed a restart of the fiscal 2027 process using fiscal year 2021 adopted levels plus a 34% increase for each department.
The speaker said the approach recognizes inflation and reasonable growth while providing a practical starting point until the council receives the detailed department-level financial data it needs. The proposal included line-item department suggestions presented verbally to the council, among them: Town Manager $185,000; finance $368,500; assessing $75,325; code enforcement $75,112; Fire & EMS $1,670,246; utilities $517,590; public works approx. $1,190,507; transfer station $587,690; landfill and general assistance amounts; personnel line around $2,145,634; capital improvements $875,000. The presenter said those numbers would reduce a current FY2027 budget estimate of about $11.14 million to roughly $9.92 million — a reduction the speaker said was a reasonable approach until audits and full data are available.
The councilor also noted Lincoln appears to be approaching five years without completed annual audits and raised concerns about consistent property assessments, stagnant population since 2021 and about 20% cumulative inflation since 2021. The speaker urged council support for fiscal discipline and transparency before seeking additional taxpayer funding.
Council discussion included requests for better departmental data and for staff to provide the requested audit and budget documentation. No formal vote to adopt the proposed reset was recorded; councilors asked staff to follow up with documentation and to place audit status and budget details on a future agenda.
