Woolwich residents will be asked to approve a $2.2 million municipal spending plan at a special town meeting Wednesday, May 26, at 6 p.m. at Woolwich Central School.

The proposed $2,207,194 municipal budget is $252,179 higher than last year’s $1,955,015 budget, showing a 12.9% increase.

Town officials don’t yet know how the proposed budget would impact the town’s property tax rate, which now sits at $15.40 per $1,000 of valuation, said Town Administrator Kim Dalton. This means a Woolwich home valued at $200,000 receives a $3,080 property tax bill.

The largest driver of the proposed budget is a $100,000 addition to begin saving for the town to conduct a property re-evaluation. According to the town warrant, Woolwich hasn’t undergone a revaluation in 14 years, well over the recommended 7-10 years.

Selectman Jason Shaw said the town doesn’t yet know when the re-evaluation will take place or how much it will cost, but “we figured we need to start putting money aside.”

“The town did well because we’ve gone a long time without a re-evaluation, but in the last few years, houses have been selling for more than we have them valued for and soon we’re going to need one,” said Shaw. “Nobody wants to re-evaluate because it’s expensive, it takes time, and sometimes some people’s taxes go up because of it.”

 

Municipalities assess properties to determine their tax rate and distribute the tax burden among property owners. But values change over time, so municipalities periodically have to conduct re-evaluations, adjusting currently assessed values to the market rate.

Shaw said he does expect residents will see their property values increase as Woolwich welcomes new residents coming from more crowded and pricier metropolitan areas.

“Woolwich is very popular because we have good schools, we have available land, and Brunswick and Bath are getting full,” said Shaw. “People want to move here and if you have multiple parties interested in a home, that often drives the price up.”

In 2019, Bath underwent its first re-evaluation in 14 years, which showed a residential property value increase of 14%, mirroring a statewide trend.

The median price of a home in Maine was $155,300 in 2005, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In 2017, the median price of a home in Maine was $179,900, marking a 15% uptick.

As of 2019, Maine’s median home value had risen to $190,400.

Shaw said the other new budget item is $40,000 to pay for improvements to the town’s four miles of unpaved roads.

Beyond the new payments, the proposed budget notes small increases in several categories, including town employee salaries, totaling $10,750, and a $11,857.50 increase in curbside trash and recycling collection.

Shaw said the board of selectmen is not “expecting a large increase” to property taxes, once coupled with the county and Regional School Unit 1 budgets.

“We’re all very cost-conscious and even though it’s an increase, the select board spent a lot of time working on this budget,” he said.

RSU 1’s proposed $38.8 million budget, a 1.6% increase from last year, is driven by a $469,000 increase in regular instruction, up nearly 4% from previous spending. Part of that increase covers a new gifted and talented teacher and a new sixth grade science teacher at Bath Middle School, according to budget documents available on the school district’s website.

The proposed $10.7 million Sagadahoc County budget is increasing by $342,818 or 3.3%, according to Pamela Hile, the county administrator. The county plans to spend $28,000 to replace cameras in police cruisers. The county is proposing to spend $18,000 for Emergency 911 software upgrades and raise an additional $40,000 to replace the emergency dispatch software system.

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