FREEPORT — Freeport is proposing a $10,393,312 municipal budget, which carries a 2.39% tax increase on its own and a possible 3.65% increase when combined with the school and county budgets.
“The past few budget years have been difficult, and this year was no exception,” Town Manager Peter Joseph and Finance Director Jessica Maloy wrote in a letter to the town council.
The roughly $288,000 increase from last year’s budget is largely attributed to salary increases, which will cost about $203,000, Maloy told the council last week.
They also budgeted $50,000 for the impact of rejected recycling loads and other Ecomaine assessment fees. The Fire and Rescue Department requested the hiring of a quality assurance/quality improvement contractor and an apparatus study for $23,000.
The combined spending plans for the town, county and Regional School Unit 5 would result in an estimated 52-cent increase to the tax rate. At a rounded $15.60 per $1,000 — a 3.51% increase from the current $15.05 per $1,000 — a tax bill for a property assessed at $300,000 would be $4,680.
According to Maloy, the increase in the operating budget is partially offset by a $160,750 increase in non-property tax revenue.
The loss of rental income associated with the Bartol Building, formerly the library and later an Abercrombie and Fitch, leaves a $150,000 hole, but is offset with an $85,000 increase in revenue sharing and a $75,000 increase in Business Equipment Tax Exemption Reimbursement along with other revenue changes, Maloy and Joseph said.
The town council is hosting a budget workshop May 7 and the public will have the opportunity to weigh in during two informal question and answer sessions at 7:30 a.m. and again at 5 p.m. May 15. There will be a public hearing on the budget on June 4.
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