Approximately 130 Bar Harbor Voters Pass $30.6M Budget at Annual Town Meeting
School budget easily passes as well
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.
BAR HARBOR—Approximately 130 voters approved the town’s budget at town meeting at the Conners Emerson Gymnasium, Tuesday night.
Elected moderator Katherine Emery paid homage to long-serving moderator Bill Ferm at the beginning of the meeting.
“Thank you, Bill. This one’s for you,” Emery said as she honored Ferm’s professionalism and character. She also thanked Dr. Heather Weir Webster for the use of the Conners Emerson Gym. “A reminder that in this space tomorrow, there will be children.”
The Bar Harbor town warrant voters dealt with on June 3 was only 7 pages and 22 articles, all of which dealt with budget items for the upcoming fiscal year. That year begins July 1, 2025 and ends June 30, 2026.
“This is what participatory democracy looks like,” she said. She thanked people for attending and participating during the busy time of year.
The town’s municipal budget was $30,590,537, an increase of $5,000 after HOME Inc. made a pitch for funding. A warrant committee amendment that would have decreased the budget by $15,000 (with the intent of decreasing funds to the YMCA, which would have still been getting an increase from last year) failed, 77-54.
Last year the YMCA received $150,000. This year it will receive $180,000. The warrant committee had made its differing recommendation because it did not think there had been enough data supporting the YMCA’s increased ask.
Bo Greene gave an impassioned plea for the YMCA funding, saying that $15,000 was a small amount compared to the $30 million budget.
"I have a really hard time thinking that it is worth diminishing,” Greene said.
The optics, she said, felt terrible and unnecessary.
Her comment received scattered applause.
Diane Vreeland agreed that the Y and its mission was extremely important but was worried about the budget and its implications and the huge disparity between “the have and the have nots.”
The school articles took approximately 70 minutes to get through with all passing by sizable margins and little discussion.
The School Committee recommended $9,401,005 from the town’s contribution to the total cost of funding public education from kindergarten to grade 12.
WHAT’S NEXT
On June 10, voters will elect four town councilors, three school committee members for the Conners Emerson School, two MDI High School trustees, and six warrant committee members.
They will also determine the fate of many land use amendments including:
Offensive Language which deals with the term “grandfathering;”
Salisbury Cove Corridor, Minimum Front Setback, which reduces the minimum front setback requirement for lots in that area on Route 3;
Time Frames and Phasing which doubles time for projects to start to one year after its been approved and increases the time in which it is deemed “substantially complete” as well as other development changes;
Multifamily I and Multifamily II Definitions which would “clarify that the uses known as multifamily I and multifamily II are not intended to be separate, detached single-family buildings on the same lot but structures that contain multiple separate living units for residential use;”
Short-term Rental, which removes obsolete language and takes the definitions vacation rental and homestead exemption out of the LUO, as well as “length of stage language” from within the vacation rental definition, which is being removed and also “refine(s) the definition of primary residence and place the determination of adequate proof of Primary Residence in Chapter 174 Short-term Rental Registration, which is outside the LUO and can be changed through a process that does not involve town vote; and
Fire Protection, which would change the requirement that subdivision lots are within 1,000 feet from a fire hydrant rather than 500 feet.
Photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story
Updated to include additional photos.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To learn more about elections.
All of our 2025 election coverage
OUR CANDIDATE INTERVIEWS:
Eight Candidates Vying for Bar Harbor Town Council Seats Answer Our Questions
Bar Harbor School Committee Candidates Answer Our Questions
Updated: Bar Harbor Warrant Committee Candidates Answer Our Questions
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