Breaking: Council gives first approval

Portland City Council on Monday evening gave the 2015 budget its first approval.
Mayor Randy Geesaman said council will hold another public hearing Oct. 6 before adopting the budget, which is $6,524,115.
That’s about $250,000 less than the budget for 2014.
The advertised tax rate for 2015 is 1.806 percent, but that’s expected to be less once its approved by the Department of Local Government Finance.
“We try to keep the budget as close as we can from one year to another,” Geesaman said.
For more on Monday’s council meeting, see Tuesday’s edition of The Commercial Review.