enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographer

Congress Street buildings are shown at the intersection with Forest Avenue. Plans have been in the works to add 250 properties to those designated as historic in the city.

enlarge Jill Brady/Staff Photographe

The signature of J.B. Brown adorns the building that bears his name at 537 Congress St. in Portland.

READ THE REPORT

To read the chamber’s recommendations for planning and economic development, click here.

Portland's effort to establish a new historic district along Congress Street could be delayed or scaled back if the city moves ahead with a budget proposal to eliminate four positions in its planning and development department.

It's one of several anticipated budget impacts for a city department that's seen a lengthy development boom slow during the last year. As a result, city officials say building permit revenue, which helps support the development review process, is expected to decrease $780,000 in the year ahead.

Employees identified for layoffs are Scott Hanson, preservation compliance coordinator ($42,593 salary), Carrie Marsh, urban designer ($46,878), and Donald Heath, commercial loan officer ($59,222). The budget plan also would eliminate one of eight code-enforcement positions ($36,572), which recently became vacant.

The targeted jobs are among 98 city and 20 school positions that are on the chopping block as the City Council reviews a proposed $274.5 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

"None of these cuts are being made because they're the greatest ideas in the world," said Patricia Finnegan, an assistant city manager. "We're going to have to set priorities to provide necessary services."

The budget plan also shifts oversight of the economic development division to the city manager's office – a move that's been under consideration for about a year and was recommended in a recent report from local business leaders.

People involved in Portland's planning and development process say the job cuts are short-sighted. They worry that staff reductions may lead to delays and mistakes in the project-review process and backups in code enforcement.

"The city's attention to historic preservation and urban design is part of why Portland is so attractive, as are all the elements of good planning, economic development and code enforcement," said Hilary Bassett, executive director of Greater Portland Landmarks. "We must continue to invest in the way this community looks and feels for the long term."

City Manager Joseph Gray Jr. and other Portland officials say they've had to make many difficult choices to avoid a larger property tax increase in the face of rising costs and plummeting revenues.

As proposed, the 2008-09 budget would increase Portland's property tax rate by 64 cents (3.7 percent), from $17.10 to $17.74 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

At that rate, the annual tax bill on a $230,000 home – about average – would increase $147, from $3,933 to $4,080.

Finnegan said the Congress Street historic district is one of the more ambitious planning projects that would be affected by the job cuts. The new district – the city's eighth – would add 250 properties to the 1,500 already overseen by Deborah Andrews, the city's historic preservation program manager, Hanson and the Historic Preservation Board.

City officials were expected to approve the district later this year. With the loss of a preservation compliance officer, the new district may have to be reduced in scope, delayed or rolled out in phases, Finnegan said.

Bassett said eliminating one of two preservation staffers comes at a particularly bad time. The city recently received two grants, totaling $73,400, for preservation programs that would be Hanson's responsibility.

In addition, the Legislature last month expanded the state's historic tax credit law, which reduces property taxes on preservation projects by 25 percent. As a result, more than a dozen developers have called the city asking about preservation opportunities in the proposed Congress Street historic district.

Regarding the elimination of the city's urban design expert, who also oversees public art installations, Finnegan noted that the budget plan would fill a $46,000 senior planning position that's been vacant for more than a year. "A senior planner is...