Harpswell selectmen unanimously approved the town’s new property tax rate Thursday, setting it just 2 cents higher than last year’s.
The new tax rate for this year is $6.76 per $1,000 of property value compared to last year’s rate of $6.74 per $1,000, a roughly 0.3% increase. This means a home in Harpswell valued at $300,000 will pay $2,028 in property taxes, $6 higher than last year.
The town’s final tax rate stems from a combination of municipal, county and school district taxes.
Harpswell residents approved a new $5.5 million municipal budget for 2021 — up 4.5% — in June. Funding for a new fire truck, a road maintenance project and the second phase of a two-part upgrade at the recycling center were among the largest increases listed in the budget.
The town budgeted $260,000 to help pay for a new fire truck for the Orr’s and Bailey Islands Fire Department, $650,000 for a capital road project on Gurnet Landing Road, Grover Lane and a portion of Basin Point Road, and another $450,000 for the second phase of capital upgrades to the recycling center.
This year’s $47 million budget for Maine School Administrative District 75, which includes Topsham, Harpswell, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham, rose by 2.4%, or about $1,100,000. For Harpswell’s local assessment, that resulted in a 1.2% increase, about a $24 tax increase.
Salaries account for just over 75% of the school district’s spending followed by debt service and lease payments, which take up about 12% of the budget.
Additions to the budget include increasing part-time social work positions at the high School and Bowdoinham to full time, carrying a $43,185 price tag and moving a part-time special education teacher to full-time for $36,142. The district also added two middle school teaching positions, costing $144,568 to compensate for an increase in seventh grade enrollment.
Cumberland County’s budget also rose 1.12% to $23 million.
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