Gorham Town Council, in a three-hour special meeting on Tuesday, May 12, approved an $88.4 million budget to support town and school spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The overall budget includes $60.4 million to pay for education and $28 million to operate municipal government.

Gorham Finance Director Sharon Laflamme said the school share of the tax rate under the new budget would increase 83 cents per $1,000 of valuation; municipal, 35 cents; and Cumberland County, 6 cents. Those increases, as they add up, would hike the current tax rate $1.24 per $1,000 of valuation to a projected $16.04, up from the present $14.80.

Taxes on a home assessed at $500,000, for example, would increase $620, from $7,400 to $8,020.

But the tax rate could be lower when the town’s overall valuation increase is known by September.

The school budget includes $400,996 for adult education. School funding rises from $57.5 million last year, marking an increase of $2.9 million, or about 5%.

The board approved the school budget, 5-2, with Town Council Chair Suzanne Phillips and Councilor Kelly Dearborn opposed. Councilors thinned the school department request by $50,000, but voters will have the final say at the polls in a school budget validation referendum on June 9.

The total municipal side of the budget includes $26.1 million, up from $23.4 million for the present amount, representing an 11% increase, to run the town and nearly $2 million to pay the Cumberland County tax assessment. The municipal side narrowly passed in a 4-3 split vote, with Phillips and councilors Dearborn and Charles Hamblen opposed.

The seven-member board approved a change in the residential curbside trash pickup program that will likely begin in late September or early October. The program switches from a bag tag system paid by residents to a cart system that will be funded through taxes. Under the change, the town will lose $315,000 in revenue.

Councilors axed a proposal for a new foreman position at the public works department and moved the starting date for a new communications director to January, saving about $66,000. The board also added $41,000 for a town membership to the Greater Portland Council of Governments.

Phillips, a former school committee member, didn’t support either budget. “Both budgets are too much,” Phillips said. “Both came in higher than what I expected.”

School Committee member Michelle Littlefield pleaded with town councilors to not cut the school budget. “We’re asking for necessities and nothing more,” Littlefield said.

South Street resident Ken Curtis said taxpayers are struggling financially and sought a school budget reduction. “You need to cut something,” Curtis urged the Town Council.

Town Councilor Charles “Lou” Simms said the town must find ways to increase revenue sources needed to support the school budget to spread out the burden on homeowners.