Standish has begun the process of approving its municipal budget for the fiscal year 2026.

The proposed budget, which would begin July 1, is $17,826,235. According to a letter from Town Manager Tashia Pinkham that was shared at the budget presentation, this is an increase of $508,317, or 2.85% from the previous year’s budget. If approved, $7,558,106 would be paid by property taxes, which is an increase of $859,752, or 11.38% from last year. However, because of the increased property value of the town, the proposed tax rate would be $12.39 per $1,000 of assessed value, lower than the current tax rate of $12.60.

On March 1, the heads of each of the town government’s departments presented their individual budgets to the Town Council and Budget Committee. From there, the Budget Committee has two weeks to workshop the budget and come back with new proposals or cuts.

Regarding specific budget items, only capital projects and law enforcement are expected to see a net decrease in the tentative budget, of -22% and -4.2% respectively. Meanwhile, the items seeing the biggest increases percentage-wise are donations, Code Enforcement, and Rich Memorial Beach, which will see increases of 76.1%, 66.3% and 40.7% respectively.

The increase in the donations budget is driven by agency requests that are significantly increased from previous years. In particular, the Richville Library and local provider agencies have requested around double their allotments from last year’s budget, $9,500 and $16,300 respectively, from $4,000 and $7,350 in 2025. Additionally, local cemetery associations are requesting nearly quadruple their previous budget, ballooning from $5,100 in 2025 to $19,550 in 2026.

Capital projects will tentatively account for $2,885,331 of the proposed budget, which would be a decrease of more than $800,000 from the previous year’s budget. Of these, $785,000 will go to the Public Safety Department, with $440,000 being spent on a new fire truck, Rescue 1. Other noteworthy capital projects include $156,342 on Town Hall repairs, $300,000 on Phase 2 of the Johnson Field project, as voted on by town residents this past Election Day, and $1,010,989 on highway improvements.

Public Safety would receive a total of $2,722,055 if the manager’s requested budget is approved, an increase of close to $400,000 from the previous year’s budget. This includes $1,938,899 for salaries, $153,236 for equipment maintenance, $211,128 for contractual fees and $74,395 for hydrant fees, among other expenses. Law enforcement is currently set to receive $1,377,253 in contractual fees, a decrease of around $58,000.

Pinkham told the Lakes Region Weekly that Standish runs its budget on a “quarter” basis, with three-quarters of all spending going to the schools, largely in the form of salaries. Nevertheless, she said that the town was able to do a remarkable amount of work on just a quarter of spending.

“It’s our goal to give the best services at the lowest price,” Pinkham said.