Adopted Town of Lewiston budget offers tax decrease

Nov. 19—The Town of Lewiston adopted its $21.63 million 2025 budget at its Thursday work session. The spending plan continues the town's trend of decreasing property taxes for residents.

The $14.67 million budget will have a tax rate of 35 cents per $1,000 of valuation, a 34.12% decrease from this year. It calls for bringing in $13.2 million in revenue, an increase of $854,306 with $1 million in appropriated funds, an increase of $736,664, and $423,934 coming in through taxes — a decrease of $254,834.

Town officials pay includes the highway superintendent whose salary is $80,565, the town clerk at $70,208, the town supervisor at $48,108, though Supervisor Steve Broderick only accepts $35,000, town justices receiving $31,453, and each town council member receiving $15,906.

The town's seven special districts have $6.95 million in appropriations, funded by $3.48 million in revenues, $3.2 million in taxes and $260,314 in appropriated fund balances.

The majority of those districts also saw tax levy decreases:

—The Fire Protection District levy is at $1.9986, a 0.27% decrease

—The Lewiston Heights Gas District has a flat rate of $300, a 20% decrease

—The Refuse District has a flat rate of $89.9419, a 1.57% increase

—The MISA District has its levy at $0.0884, a 12.81% decrease

—The South Sewer District has its levy at $0.7440, a 13.61% decrease

—The Lewiston Water Improvement Area has its levy at $1.0022, a 0.67% decrease

President-elect Donald Trump is considering eliminating the EV tax credit from Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which currently allows purchasers of electric vehicles in 2023 and later to qualify for a tax write-off up to $7,500. Simultaneously, the incoming Trump administration is reportedly looking to push through a regulatory framework on full self-driving autonomous vehicles. Zero Emission Transportation Policy executive director Albert Gore III joins Catalysts to discuss the potential implications. "Ultimately, these policies are working to lower costs for consumers and bring jobs to the United States," Gore tells Yahoo Finance and eliminating these policies could threaten that balance. Despite the potential changes, Gore is confident that the Trump administration wants to prioritize domestic job creation: "I think we need to have a strong demand signal that sends the message all the way up through the supply chains that they need to invest in the United States." To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Catalysts here. This post was written by Angel Smith