Councilor offers inside view of Biddeford’s budget

Editor’s note: The following is a response that Biddeford City Council President Liam LaFountain sent to a resident who expressed concerns about this year’s municipal budget.

By Liam LaFountain

Thank you for taking the time to write and for your thoughtful engagement with this year’s city budget. Your questions about affordability, sustainability, and fiscal discipline are essential. I appreciate the opportunity to respond and provide additional context on this year’s proposed budget.

Your recognition of the value that organizations like Heart of Biddeford, McArthur Library, and our food security and cultural institutions bring to the city is deeply appreciated. These organizations stretch every dollar and are actively engaged in fundraising and collaboration. They are not resting on municipal support alone.

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For example, Heart of Biddeford, to which the Budget Committee awarded $110,000 this year (a 10% increase from last year), operates on a total budget of $270,500—meaning the City’s share is approximately 41%. In return, they run 16 community events (many spanning multiple days or weeks), manage the Art of Biddeford initiative, conduct business training, and support downtown vibrancy year-round.

McArthur Library, a private nonprofit that functions as Biddeford’s public library, requested $1.25 million, and the Budget Committee awarded $1 million (a 33% increase from last year). That represents 48% of its $2.081 million annual budget. With 4,825 active cardholders and 6,500 in-person visits each month from Biddeford residents, it remains one of our city’s most widely used public services.

While the library holds a $6 million endowment, it’s my understanding that they are only able to draw down 4–5% annually per the terms of Robert McArthur’s will, and those funds are restricted in their use. I recognize the City’s contribution is substantial, but so is the library’s role in our city’s physical and social infrastructure.

Particularly in times of economic strain, the library’s value as one of the few free and welcoming places to access books, the internet, programming, and essential public services becomes even more critical. Every time I reflect on its role and its municipal funding, I am reminded of both childhood memories of the library and a quote from President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “I have an unshaken conviction that democracy can never be undermined if we maintain our library resources and a national intelligence capable of utilizing them.” With reduced federal and state support for libraries, Biddeford is fortunate to have one so deeply rooted in public service. Without the McArthur Library, Biddeford would need to build, staff, and maintain a municipal library from the ground up—a much more expensive alternative.

On the question of duplication and collaboration in food services, I believe the three food-related nonprofits supported by the City provide distinct, highly targeted services and collaborate extensively:

• In-A-Pinch Non-Food Pantry: The Budget Committee awarded $4,500 (18% of their total budget). 100% of funding goes to supplies and services, and there is no paid staff.
• Bon Appétit Community Meal Program: the Budget Committee awarded $24,000 (40% of their budget); volunteer-run, serving 26,000 hot meals in 2024—about 92 cents per meal for the City’s contribution.
• Youth Full Maine: the Budget Committee awarded $10,000 (3% of their budget), supporting food distributions at Rotary Park and downtown, and direct deliveries to school pantries and teen programs. They served over 600 Biddeford residents last year—about $16 per person served in City funds.

Altogether, the Budget Committee awarded $38,500 to these these three organization and their food security efforts this year. I wish we did not have to allocate a single dollar to these programs. But the alternative—letting people go hungry—is not one I can support.

Biddeford Community Gardens, which the Budget Committee awarded $17,871 (28% of their budget), served over 500 residents in 2024. They operate in city parks and Housing Authority properties, charge no fees (but require a work service component for beneficiaries), and provide Bon Appétit Community Meal Program and Youth Full Maine with fresh produce (another key example of their collaborations). They also collaborate with over a dozen organizations across Biddeford and help maintain and beautify portions of Biddeford parks and public spaces.

Regarding holiday lighting, the Budget Committee awarded $5,000, not $20,000. These funds allow Heart of Biddeford and La Kermesse to install battery-powered lights in areas without electric access, helping create a welcoming winter atmosphere throughout the downtown without drawing on City staff time.

On local history and cultural preservation, the Budget Committee awarded:

• $7,875 to the Biddeford Cultural and Heritage Center (29% of their budget), which maintains archives and offers year-round programming.
• $7,500 to the Biddeford Historical Society (33% of their budget), which maintains our area’s oldest meetinghouse (7 Meetinghouse Road) and several historic cemeteries.
• $2,625 to the Biddeford Mills Museum (6% of their budget). The museum is entirely volunteer-run and has no paid staff. In 2024, the Museum logged 1,213 volunteer hours, welcomed 525 museum visitors, led 438 standard tours, 16 special tours, and provided guided educational tours to 418 students about Biddeford’s industrial history.

The Budget Committee awarded $18,000 in total to preserve and promote Biddeford’s history through these three organizations—about 78 cents per resident.

In summary:
The Budget Committee received $1,974,957 in funding requests from social service and nonprofit partners and awarded $1,376,486.50—about 69.7% of what was requested. Some requests were partially funded, and others not funded at all.

These awards make up 2.9% of the City’s $47,821,494 municipal appropriation. In contrast, the largest cost drivers of the municipal budget and use of tax dollars remain Public Safety ($14,773,566) and Public Works ( $6,051,410)—with $20,824,976 budgeted this year across Police, Fire, EMS, Public Works, sanitation, and city infrastructure. The largest portion of those costs is for salaries and wages for the essential staff who protect public safety, plow and maintain roads, pick up trash, and keep the city’s systems functioning year-round.

On the education side, while the overall budget increased by 5.84%, 4.18% of that growth comes from the School Department. The City’s portion rose 1.44%, and County expenses increased 0.22%. Education costs are rising due to higher wages for teachers and support staff, increased needs for student services, and a sharp reduction in state funding. 

With 60% of students economically disadvantaged and 21% qualifying for special education, the state covers just 37% of Biddeford’s total school budget—leaving 63% to local taxpayers. At the same time, Biddeford educates students at a cost of $15,273 per pupil, below the state average of $17,028 and significantly less than South Portland ($19,592) and Saco ($17,347).

That efficiency also means we are investing less per student than many of our peers—not necessarily a point of pride, but a reflection of the financial constraints the School Committee and City Council must navigate. While local taxpayers may experience some relief from lower education spending per student compared to the state average and our peers, the consequences are borne by our students and educators through reduced resources and increased strain. These students are not only learners today—they are the future leaders, workers, and contributors to the strength of this city tomorrow.

Through more than 10 public meetings,
several other councilors and I proposed
dozens of amendments to the budget to
improve efficiency and reduce the tax commitment.

I’d be remiss if I did not also mention that over the past nine weeks, through more than 10 public meetings, several other councilors and I proposed dozens of amendments to the budget to improve efficiency and reduce the tax commitment. Some succeeded—such as reducing expenses for conferences and training, dues and memberships, user licenses, advertising, and cutting a transfer that subsidized the mooring program. Others, like adjusting development-related fees, were partially successful.

Efforts to raise dispatch service fees charged to other municipalities did not gain traction. I also advocated for increased funding for municipal building maintenance and capital investments—a line item that decreased this year despite growing need—but that, too, was not adopted. Unfortunately, the consequence of underfunding this area is often deferred maintenance that becomes more expensive to address later and can disrupt basic services if not resolved in time.

These were difficult calls. None of us entered this process expecting it to be easy. But every amendment offered reflected an attempt to balance long-term responsibility with today’s fiscal realities.

I understand the concern that the continued growth of the city budget is not sustainable for many Biddeford residents. That is why I believe it is critical that both City government and the organizations we support continue to ask tough questions, pursue efficiencies, and seek out alternative funding sources. This year’s process included many of those conversations.

While the final outcome is not perfect, it reflects real attempts to prioritize essential services while holding the line where we could. The choices ahead will continue to be difficult, and the pressure to do more with less is real. But I believe that preserving affordability and maintaining the services that support our city’s well-being are not mutually exclusive goals—both are part of what it means to meet these fiscal challenges head-on.

In closing, thank you again for raising these questions and for participating in this process. Thoughtful public input like yours plays a meaningful role in shaping how our city is governed and funded. I hope the information I’ve shared helps clarify how and why certain allocations were made, even if not everyone agrees with every outcome. I don’t agree with every allocation in this budget either.

The full Budget Packet [https://biddefordme.portal.civicclerk.com/event/735/files/agenda/1086] contains most of the details I referenced, and summary information is available in the City Council packet for tonight’s meeting [https://biddefordme.portal.civicclerk.com/event/841/files/agenda/2462].

I apologize for the length of this reply—it is difficult to capture two months of Budget Committee work, and the many hours of staff time that went into crafting this document. This year’s budget, like everyone I’ve been part of, is imperfect, but it reflects an earnest effort to balance what we value with what we can realistically sustain.

Thank you again for writing. Please reach out at any time.

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