Biddeford City Councilor Abigail Wood shares her perspective about this year’s municipal budget, highlighting the need to begin thinking about next year’s budget almost immediately
By ABIGAIL WOODS | Biddeford City Council
I want to start by saying thank you to those who engaged with the Biddeford City Council during the budget process. There was a vast array of input about what we should cut and what we should invest in.
Things I heard: Household budgets are tight. Public works, public safety, and our schools are the central services taxes should support. The city should pursue a needs-based budget. I agree on all these points, and even if I didn’t, I remain dedicated to listening to the public and making decisions based on what I hear from all residents.
While my personal politics are by far some of the most left-leaning of our current council, my guiding principle as an elected official is that everyone’s voice matters. If I were making decisions based on my own personal preferences, it is not likely I would have voted for many cuts.
While I do bring my areas of expertise into my decision making, as that was a central part of my campaign, I stayed open to input on anything being discussed and supported many of the cuts being made.
While I am glad the busy budget season is over, I believe the work on next year’s budget should start now.
Biddeford is reckoning with years, if not decades, of deferred maintenance – in both physical and social infrastructure. We have $100 million in necessary capital improvements alone, and only fund about $2 to 3 million per year. The same factors that are driving tight household budgets are driving the city’s increases too. The vast majority of the budget is made up of either fixed costs or needs.
“While my personal politics
— Abigail Woods, Ward Two
are by far some of the most
left leaning of our current council,
my guiding principle as an
elected official is that everyone’s
voice matters.”
One thing I see missing in public discourse about the budget is an effort to understand the tradeoffs between the taxes paid and the service being provided. At its core, government allows us to stretch dollars further than individually purchasing goods or services, or even contributing money to organizations.
While many believe there should not be funding for external social services, many of them provide a public benefit that is important to the health of the city and its residents. These services often provide cost savings as well.
This is the lens I used when I reviewed each social service funding request. Moving forward, I want to hear input from the public on what agencies they feel provide a public benefit that is cost saving to the community.
I also want to ensure we fix our application process for these funds, so we can be more specific about what we are looking to achieve through these funding partnerships. This will allow each agency to determine whether requesting funding fits into municipal goals and, ideally, demonstrate how their program provides cost savings or return on investment.
Broadly, residents can and should weigh in on what goods, services, and contributions they want, allowing the City Council to make truly representative decisions for the whole community. Our current process for collecting that feedback is imperfect, but I appreciated people sharing their thoughts in a variety of forums. One of my priorities over this year is to look at ways to improve the public input process.
In closing, I want to make two offers:
- No matter what, if you are struggling to afford your property taxes or your housing, please contact me, whether you are a Ward Two resident or not and;
- I have created a form giving residents the opportunity to share what kind of public engagement they are interested in, in order to keep the conversation going year round. You can fill it out here: bit.ly/woodsofficehours.
You can always reach me at abigail.woods@biddefordmaine.org (and I hope to reply more quickly now that Budget Committee work has ended).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Abigail Woods is a member of the Biddeford City Council, representing Ward Two.
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