The population has gone up in Gorham, and now the tax rate could, too.

Gorham added 1,000 new residents from 2010 to 2016, an increase of 6 percent that makes the town one of the fastest-growing in the state. Officials said that swell has put new demands on local services.

If approved, the current budget proposals would add $1.79 per $1,000 of assessed value to the property tax rate, an increase of 10.5 percent. On a home assessed at $200,000, that amounts to an increase of $358 per year in taxes. The property tax rate would go from $17.10 per $1,000 to $18.89.

“The big picture here in Gorham is that with growth comes increased expenditures,” Superintendent of Schools Heather Perry said.

The majority of the possible tax rate increase – $1.55 of $1.79 – is tied to the school budget increase.

The Gorham School District proposal for next year is $39.2 million. That figure is up $1.6 million, or 4.43 percent, over the current year. Perry said the district is contending with two challenges – increasing enrollments and increasing property values. Gorham schools are expected to grow by 77 students next year, particularly at the elementary level. That is a nearly 3 percent increase, which will push enrollment over 2,800 total students.

At the same time, state funding will drop $1.2 million, in part the result of a 6 percent increase in state property values in Gorham. Increased state valuation reflects the increased wealth of a community, but in Gorham’s case, Perry said growth did not make up for the loss in state funding.

To the superintendent, that was a gut punch. The district’s per pupil costs are in line with past years and lower than many nearby communities, she said.

“To me, the real story is our loss of state subsidy,” Perry said. “It has everything to do with things that are completely out of the control of the school system, which is property values.”

The budget proposal includes two portable classrooms – one for the Village Elementary School and one for Gorham High School. It also covers $920,000 for health care costs and contractual salary increases for existing staff, and the district has proposed hiring additional employees, including three new teachers at the elementary level, to handle the incoming students.

The School Committee deferred other expenses, including capital improvements.

“We have five schools that, even though we turn our eye, they are aging,” Perry said. “Those needs, it’s just kicking the can down the road, and that will come back and bite. It’s not a question of if. It’s a question of when.”

Rising enrollments already have prompted review in the district. Parents and teachers voiced concerns earlier this year with the possible reconfiguration of the elementary schools. The district decided to conduct studies of demographics and building needs, which are ongoing. The school committee is also planning a high school expansion that could cost millions of taxpayer dollars.

“The high school is undersized,” Perry said. “We have an increasing student population, and we can’t put the kids in closets.”

On the municipal side, the proposed hike would add 22 cents per $1,000 to the tax rate.

The municipal budget proposal for the fiscal year that starts July 1 is $14.7 million. That is a $660,000 increase, or 4.7 percent, over the current year.

The increases that are included in the budget include additional per diem staff for the Gorham Fire Department, which has seen an increase in calls for medical emergencies. The police department would also add one sergeant.

“It is directly correlated with our growth,” Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak said. “The more people in town, the more medical calls there are.”

The Town Council also approved a senior property tax relief ordinance, which provides rebates to seniors with certain income levels to help them manage rising property taxes. That will cost $50,000 next year.

This budget is the first in Gorham for Paraschak, who worked in Naples before coming to Gorham last year.

“More people in town equals more children in the school department,” Paraschak said. “They have a lot of projects, they have personnel expenses. There’s a lot of things I wish I could have put in this budget, some new ideas in my first year, but we wanted to keep the town side manageable.”

The increase in county taxes would translate to a 2 cent per $1,000 increase on the tax rate.

The Town Council will have a workshop on the school budget May 15 at 6:30 p.m.

Megan Doyle can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

mdoyle@pressherald.com

Twitter: megan_e_doyle