Current Draft Budget Does Not Include Money for Cooperating Agencies or Suggested Increases for Y and Jesup
Bar Harbor Budget Update
BAR HARBOR—Due to a misunderstanding about the town’s process for funding requests from outside agencies such as Open Table or Hancock County Hospice, the current draft budget does not include any money for the 19 groups that requested approximately $83,000.
That does not mean that those agencies will go without funds from Bar Harbor. It just means that those funds aren’t there currently.
Each year, multiple nonprofits and other agencies make their case before the Town Council and Warrant Committee for funds that help them run, funds that come from the Bar Harbor property owners. This year was no exception. During the meeting, it was explained that new Town Manager James Smith didn’t realize that the draft and initially proposed manager’s budget presented to the Council and Warrant Committee typically flat funds all agencies that request money. Instead, he included last year’s allocation (FY2024, which runs from July 2023 to June 2024) and shows the agencies’ requests. In many other towns, this is how the process works. Those requests are added in as the process goes along. This is not the case in Bar Harbor.
According to Finance Director Sarah Gilbert, Wednesday morning, if the town adds in funding the cooperating agencies at their full requests ($83,813) and the full request for the recreation budget at $518,250 (up from current proposed budgeted recreation amount of $303,065), the tax rate estimate increase would increase from 10.21 to 10.33.
Gilbert said, “A quick rule of thumb for this valuation: for every $100,000 of expense increase, the mil rate increases by .04, and conversely for every increase in revenue of $100,000 a decrease of .04 on mil rate.”
Last week’s meetings focused on the municipal and school budgets.
The budget as presented calls for raising an additional $4,208,006 from taxation for the municipal budget, education budget, and assessments for both Hancock County, MDI High School, and the overlay.
TUESDAY’S MEETING
The Bar Harbor Town Council and Warrant Committee met via Zoom and in person at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building on January 30 in the third of their joint meetings to go over the requests of those agencies as well as the recreation budget.
There were 19 outside agency requests totaling $83,813, a 10% increase over the amount dispersed in the 2024 budget. Then there were four additional lines under the town budget’s recreation section for community events (Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce), the Bar Harbor Band, Jesup Memorial Library, and the MDI YMCA.
For two agencies—the YMCA and Jesup Memorial Library—the increase becomes a bit fuzzy because both agencies received ARPA funds last year, which came to the town from the federal government for COVID-19 pandemic support. The town used those funds ($50,000 for the YMCA and $120,000 for the library) to fund the agencies at their increased requested levels without using property tax to fund the full amounts.
“We decided to fund at the levels that they requested,” Town Council Chair Valerie Peacock said, but they used those one-time funds to do so.
Those ARPA funds were also used to pay for a police cruiser (moving it for one year out of the general budget and capital improvement program), a power screen for the Bar Harbor Public Works, and a contracted mental health liaison to work with the Bar Harbor Police Department (split with Mount Desert). The use of the funds decreased the overall tax burden for property owners in 2024’s budget, which runs from July 2023 to June 2024. Those funds are gone now.
The requests for those four recreation lines were:
Community Events, $23,750
Band, $14,500
Jesup, $330,000
YMCA, $150,000
YMCA REQUEST
Last year, the YMCA received $107,120 from the general fund and $50,000 from the ARPA funds.
“This request is $150,000 again this year,” Smith said.
YMCA Director Anne Tikkanen said that there are 1,666 YMCA members from the community.
“We hoped we could really show you the impact of our long hours of operation for the community as the town’s recreation center,” she said. “It’s an extremely busy place these days.”
Councilor Kyle Shank asked if any of the expenses has to do with the Y’s expenses for soil remediation because a portion of the site has toxic soil levels. The numbers just include top soil and mulch, she said, so that they can use the outside space.
Membership dues went up by 5% this year, she said.
JESUP REQUEST
Last year the Jesup Memorial Library received $160,680 from the general fund and the additional $120,000 in ARPA funds.
“They are requesting $380,000,” Smith said.
However, Jesup Memorial Library Director Matt Delaney said the library is willing to gradually approach its hoped-for funding level over a four-year time period rather than a two-year time period. So, now, the total ask is $330,000. This is possible, he said, partially because less employees enrolled in the health care plan than had been anticipated.
“We understand what’s happening this year with the town budget.” It’s not a comfortable position, Delaney said, to ask for the money.
“So really the increase this year is the ARPA funds plus $50,000,” on top of the $160,680, Councilor Earl Brechlin said.
OTHER REQUESTS
The cooperating agencies range from youth sports to nursing associations and the village improvement society in Town Hill which houses some fire trucks and is in charge of the maintenance of the Town Hill Playground and new ice skating rink.
The fire department’s lease with the Town Hill Village Improvement Society expired in September. They are discussing converting part of the building into housing for the fire department, said the association’s President Perry Moore.
The largest requested increases were from the MDI Nursing Association (from $5,202 to $11,000, an increase of 111%) and the WIC Maine Family planning (an increase from $1,025 to $1,750 or 71%). The nursing association said it will be taking some of Northern Light Homecare Bar Harbor’s additional home care patients. They have hired staff to cover that transition on March 15, 2024. It’s been a soft transition, representatives said. Northern Light, which is also requesting money, will still be providing hospice care on the island.
“Food insecurity is at a crisis point in Hancock County,” said Max Dietshe, Vice President of the Board of Trustees of Loaves and Fishes. There were 66 individuals from 31 Bar Harbor households who made a total of 407 visits to the Ellsworth-based agency in 2023. That crisis, he said, comes from the loss of pandemic funds and increasing food costs. It is the first time the agency has asked for money from the town.
CHAMBER REQUESTS
The recreation portion of the budget requests $16,200 to support July Fourth events, $6,000 for Village Holiday events and $1,550 for the Seaside Cinema. Those events are organized by the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce.
The $42,600 of wayfinding funds that typically help support the Bar Harbor Chamber of Commerce’s activities was taken out of the budget by voters at the June 2023 Town Meeting who were upset that the Chamber was a member of APPLL, which is a local nonprofit group that’s part of the lawsuit against the town about recent voter-approved cruise ship disembarkation limits. The wayfinding funds support the Chamber's visitor services that it provides through its website, app, and visitor centers in town.
The item was discussed at staff level according to Smith. There is no wayfinding line in the budget.
“I do feel that there may be services for the town that are relevant to that area,” Smith said, so the staff left room under a contingency line in the budget where the town can contract things that may or may not come through the Chamber, Smith said.
Smith said that he wants to be sensitive to the will of the voters at the town meeting but also respect the value of the Chamber.
The visitor services app was launched two years ago, Chamber Executive Director Everal Eaton said, and it has a notification system on it, which the town could potentially utilize via PUSH notifications. The town has been discussing using text systems to notify residents about emergencies.
Councilor Earl Brechlin asked if the Chamber was currently advocating for more cruise ship visitations. Eaton said the Chamber would like more of an open dialogue around that and tourism management as discussed at an earlier council meeting and was supportive of the memorandum of agreement process. The Chamber’s membership in APPLL, he said, was an annual membership and not up for renewal until May.
BAR HARBOR BAND
The band, which plays on the Village Green, is asking for a 21% increase from last year’s $12,005 to $14,500. Brian Booher, the conductor for the band, said it hadn’t played for two years during the pandemic.
“We are starting to grow back to pre-pandemic size,” he said.
BUDGET TIMELINE
The budget first goes to the Town Council and Warrant Committee. Recommendations are made. The final budget is approved by voters in June. The budget in discussion is FY2025, which runs from the beginning of July 2024 until June 30, 2025.
WARRANT SUBCOMMITTEE MEETING CANCELLED
Because the Warrant Committee is down one member and will be nominating and voting on a potential appointment on Monday, the subcommittee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, January 31 has been cancelled. Caleb Cough resigned from the committee.
PUBLIC FORUM
Bar Harbor is holding a public forum about the potential land use ordinance amendments that go before the voters in June.
Disclosure: My husband and Bar Harbor Story writer is on the town’s Warrant Committee. We are not the same person and often have very different opinions on many things.
Update: This story has had a sentence tweaked to more accurately portray the wayfinder services.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Cooperating agencies’ supporting materials
Town budget documents and timeline of general workshops
https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/library-and-ymca-receive-requested
The school’s proposed budget is here.
The town’s budget documents are here.
To watch the discussion, click here.
The Conners-Emerson Building for the Future project is here.
All budget questions from the public can be sent to Town Manager James Smith. His email is jsmith@barharbormaine.gov.
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