Anne Gleason / The Citizen

AUBURN -- As expected, based on the city's projected $3.7 million deficit for the end of fiscal year 2007, city manager John Salomone presented a bleak budget proposal for 2006-07, which included the elimination of 26.5 full-time equivalent positions -- including six police officers -- and a 9-percent property tax increase.

The proposed layoffs would equate to 8.5 percent of the city's workforce. Salomone said he informed all of the city employees on Thursday whose positions were being considered for elimination.

"It is the most difficult job of an executive to do," he said. "This was a last resort. We really had no alternative but to look at those areas."

The six police officers would come largely through the School Resource Officer program, which Salomone proposed eliminating. The five school resource officers, who all have seniority in the department, would return to work as patrol officers and six patrol officers with less seniority would be laid off, meaning the department would be down one patrol officer.

A 9-percent property tax increase would raise an additional $822,000 in revenue. Because of increased assessments from this year's citywide revaluation, the tax rate would drop from $14.95 per $1,000 assessed value to $13.32 per $1,000. However, if the current tax rate were adjusted to account for increased assessments, the current rate would fall to $12.65 per $1,000, which is why the $13.32 per $1,000 rate is actually a 9-percent increase in the tax levy.

For a house assessed at $75,000, the proposed tax increase would equate to an extra $50 in the property owner's tax bill.

Salomone said it would be up to the city council to determine whether to increase the tax rate, to alleviate some of the cuts, or decrease the rate, which would exacerbate the cuts. Without any staff reductions, the tax rate would have to be increased by 16 percent, he said.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Citizen.