Fort Fairfield has weathered a lot over the past few years.
The town found itself more than $1 million in debt from alleged financial mismanagement and has had to claw its way back from that hole.
The road was rough. Property taxes rose and departments made harsh cuts. Along the way, leaders needed to regain the trust of disenchanted residents. After a year on the job, Town Manager Tim Goff said Fort Fairfield is finally making more than it’s spending. And last month, the property tax rate went down for the second year in a row.
Interviews with multiple residents and officials in Fort Fairfield shed light on the reality of what it takes for a town to climb out of debt. And while town leaders may be relieved, residents’ feelings about the financial progress are mixed.
Richard Parady said Fort Fairfield was a booming town when he was growing up. Now it has just the bare necessities for businesses.
“My taxes haven’t gone down,” Parady said. “I don’t know if there’s a chance to recover or not. We don’t have the population anymore.”
Fort Fairfield had 5,878 residents in 1960, according to U.S. census data. Its population has shrunk by about 45 percent since then, numbering 3,300 in the 2020 census.
Allan Keegan, a Fort Fairfield native who returned to the area nine years ago, said taxes went down on one of his properties but rose on another. Still, he thinks the town is over the worst of it.
“I think they were fair in what they did,” he said about cuts to departments like the library and recreation. “We’re on the uphill of it. I’m comfortable here, and I like what they’re doing.”
The town is now making hundreds of thousands more than it spends, according to annual audit reports on file with the Maine state auditor’s office.
In 2020, expenditures of $6.9 million and revenue of more than $5 million resulted in a $1.9 million deficit. For the next two years, those deficits were $1.3 million and $790,460, respectively, the audit reports stated.
That changed last year, with expenditures of $7.6 million and revenue of $8.5 million — an excess of $907,806, according to the 2022-23 audit.
The 2023-24 audit is not complete, but preliminary numbers show a surplus of approximately $560,000, Goff said.
“I don’t think anybody would say it wasn’t painful. Folks had their taxes going up when everything else was going up, and it was also painful when people had lost faith in their government,” he said. “I feel very good about what we’ve accomplished and where we’re going.”
The town started sliding into debt in 2020 with budget shortfalls. Residents formed a taxpayer group that spoke out at council meetings and demanded that the spending stop.
In 2021, the town had more than $1.2 million in short-term debt in 2021 and less than $200,000 in the bank. Some residents blamed former Town Manager Andrea Powers for poor financial decisions, especially overspending on a new ambulance service. A citizen advisory committee formed to make budget suggestions.
Powers resigned and former Town Manager Dan Foster stepped in as interim leader to try to get the town back on its feet. The mill rate skyrocketed from 19.5 in 2021 to 26.5 in 2022. The town hired a consultant to advise, and officials voted to cut more than $1 million from the next year’s budget.
Because there was little cash, maintenance like routine paving and building repairs went untouched, Goff said. Some cuts hurt: The F ort Fairfield Public L ibrary eliminated its director, recreation and parks trimmed wages and staff, and the fire and ambulance department cut positions and sold equipment.
Seeing the sacrifices town employees were making is what drove Goff to accept the town manager position last year, he said. He wanted to help.
It was a bit like having a large animal on your dinner plate and wondering how to dig in.
“How do you eat an elephant?” Goff said. “A bite at a time.”
Stringent budget trimming helped. So did paying down loans and investing money. Last year, leaders voted to put reserve funds in a high-interest account that has already earned nearly $12,000, he said. In January, the town paid off a $1 million tax anticipation note.
Last fall, the mill rate went down to 24.75. This year, the rate decreased further to 20.97.
The town has come a long way, Goff said, thanks to residents, department heads and staff talking, buckling down and moving on. This year, crews have paved 4 miles of roads, fixed broken restroom dividers at the pool and given the library a new roof.
Without its director, the library is still dealing with losses. Hours were cut to three days a week. With less money from the town, librarians Lynn Cote and Barb Wells-Alexander have had to pivot to grant funding.
Funds from the American Library Association and AARP, along with private donations, paid to renovate the basement community room. The Aroostook Agency on Aging provided televisions and a computer, part of its Access Points for Aging program. Grants also paid for two gardens on the grounds.
With the addition of program director Robin Johnson, library attendance has risen from about 200 people a month to nearly 500 in the last year, Cote said. The improvements have garnered greater community support.
“Once people found out that we were doing it with grants and donations, not burdening the taxpayers with the costs, people were satisfied and excited about the projects and progress we were making,” Cote said.
The library is now open four days a week and is attracting more volunteers. And now they can put worries over the leaky roof to rest, Cote said.
Phil Christensen heads Fort Fairfield’s Quality of Place Council, a nonprofit volunteer group that works to better the community.
“For a period, support for the council waned and the directors focused on activities that build community spirit,” Christensen said. “With the town budget stabilized, we are experiencing renewed community spirit.”
The council started a holiday decorating contest and light parade last year, which residents eagerly supported, he said. The recent Halloween Fun Fest drew record attendance of more than 250 kids.
For Goff, a set of steps symbolizes the journey.
The concrete stairs at the Town Office had been crumbling and unsafe for years, with inadequate ground support, he said. Public works staff recently put in a proper foundation and replaced the steps.
Similarly, Fort Fairfield is rebuilding its foundation. There will always be hurdles, but there’s greater unity among staff and townspeople, Goff said.
“The atmosphere is different. It doesn’t feel desperate,” he said. “It’s hard to celebrate not going into debt, but it feels great.”
