The KMTS Citizen’s Prosperity Trust Fund is worth just under $45.2 million.
City council wonders whether it’s time to use some of that money to increase the amount they offset taxes by.
Mayor Andrew Poirier says he’s not interested in touching the principal amount, which is about $40.9 million.
“Speaking personally, no,” says Poirier in a recent interview with Acadia News.
“I was around when it was created, so there’s a process we would have to go through in order to begin to draw down that principal amount, and I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Poirier adds if the city starts borrowing from the trust fund, it will eventually dry up.
“I think that would be a fundamental mistake to begin to do that. When you start putting your budgets together and drawing on reserves, what do you do when the reserves are gone?”
Right now, the city takes $1.1 million annually from interest on the trust fund to offset taxes, but some councillors think that amount should be increased.
Councillor Lisa Moncrief suggests the interest payout from the KMTS Prosperity Trust Fund should keep pace with inflation.
