BATH
The City Council is considering a $14.5 million municipal budget that — together with an 0.4 percent hike in county taxes and a 3.1 percent increase in taxes for education — would present residents with a property tax increase of nearly 5 percent.
Municipal expenditures would be $213,294 more than last year, representing a 1.4 percent tax increase.
City Manager William Giroux said higher health insurance, road salt and paving costs are driving the increase. The city also wants $222,000 to pay for one police department vehicle, a dump truck, a pickup truck; repair of walls in City Hall exterior; and a conversion to natural gas at City Hall.
Many residents expressed concerns in the past year that city streets and roads need paving, Giroux said.
On the education side, residents in the five municipalities of Regional School Unit 1 will vote on a budget in the next two weeks that asks for a 6.6 percent overall increase in the amount raised from taxation.
Frank Dillon, of West Bath, said from the audience the council should take a public position in opposition to the RSU 1 budget.
“The council should pass a resolution or somehow express itself if it opposes the RSU 1 budget,” Dillon said. “We need innovation to avert this steady RSU 1 increase. A council resolution could bring out a lot of people.”
Council Chairman Bernard Wyman said he has not polled the council on that matter. Wyman and Sinclair have sat in on RSU 1 budget deliberations.
“There is a referendum coming up,” Sinclair responded. “You have a voice.”
lgrard@timesrecord.com
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