Town Manager Hopes to be Arbitrator in Town Budget Process
Bar Harbor's proposed municipal budget shows 8.9% increase
BAR HARBOR—Employee benefits, solid waste, and multiple bonds have combined to increase the proposed Bar Harbor municipal budget’s general fund’s overall spending for municipal operations by 8.9%, an increase of $1,141,909.
“This has been a difficult budget to construct, as it is the first budget to assume the debt service costs associated with four significant bonds, approved in 2021 and 2022 at Town Meeting,” Smith told the Bar Harbor Town Council and Warrant Committee during their first joint workshop, Tuesday night. There were no motions or specific changes to the budget or decisions during the Tuesday meeting and its budget overview. There will be two more joint workshops in the next week to look at the school budget and service organization requests.
If approved, the municipal budget anticipates:
A $0.49 increase in the municipal share of the MIL rate;
A $1.01 increase in the school share of the MIL rate;
A $0.05 increase in the county share of the MIL rate.
The MIL rate or mill rate or millage rate allows people to calculate property taxes. The MIL rate is multiplied by the property’s value. A MIL is one one-thousandth of a dollar. So, 1 mill is $1 per for every $1,000.
A wild card in the process is that the town doesn’t currently know the MDI High School budget and its share.
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 through to June 30, 2025.
New Town Manager James Smith wrote in his memo to councilors and Warrant Committee members,
“The priority infrastructure bond, school architectural plans, solar array, and fiber buildout were all projects long overdue, and I am confident that the residents and taxpayers of Bar Harbor will be pleased with the end result of the work that will flow from these.”
The budget as presented has no expenditures for service agencies. Smith said that he hoped to facilitate more conversation between the Warrant Committee and Town Council prior to the budget’s finalization.
He said he saw himself as an arbitrator between the two groups to make a budget that the community can get behind.
“The Cruise Ship Fund shows a 22% decrease in revenues from FY24 to $750,904,” Smith wrote. This is despite the per passenger fee increasing to $5.54.
Council Chair Valerie Peacock asked about the FY26, which begins July 1 2025, if cruise ship fees continue to go down and what will happen in the future with expenditures and revenues.
Town operation costs are offset approximately $407,000 by the funds and an approximate $406,000 to help with capital improvement costs. This includes $79,150 toward the debt the town currently holds from the ferry terminal purchase, signage, and Barker and Harborview Park renovations. The funds also contribute toward the Island Explorer, which moves visitors and locals around the island and into Acadia National Park.
The Parking Fund, which comes from paid parking in Bar Harbor proper is estimated to generate $3,506,200 in revenue. This spring, the town plans to replace the existing meters with kiosks. Warrant Committee member Eben Salvatore questioned why those revenues were presented differently than the cruise ship revenues within the budget.
For those parking fees, Smith wrote, “$365,237 will be transferred to the general fund’s revenue to offset operational expenses-administrative, public safety and public works. $2,946,820 are allocated for CIP expenditures, including roads, sidewalks, vehicle purchases as well as bike and pedestrian roadway improvements.”
“As currently proposed, the MIL Rate would increase from $8.68 to $10.21 The fiscal tax impact on a home with a median home value of $522,350 would be $66.58/month or $799.00 per year,” Smith wrote.
That is in addition to what that home owner already pays in taxes. Councilor Earl Brechlin said he’d like to see that total broken out.
Council Vice Chair Gary Friedmann was absent. Warrant Committee Chair Seth Libby was absent. Councilor Kyle Shank attended via Zoom. Three members of the public attended in person. It is unknown how many streamed the meeting.
“It’s tedious. It’s hard. It’s difficult at times,” Peacock said of the budget process, but it shows what the town values in its community and what it supports and prioritizes.
The sustainability and communication coordinator were removed from the manager’s budget. Instead, Smith is proposing the use of a contractual services budget of $75,000 for sustainability and realigning the staff for communications.
“We are reducing two funded positions,” he said.
Councilor Maya Caines had been the communications coordinator and Laura Berry had been the sustainability coordinator. Both women were let go after Town Manager Kevin Sutherland left last January. Their positions were not filled.
There are several capital improvements suggested in the municipal budget.
Warrant Committee member Megan Kelley asked if they could talk about the solid waste increase in expenditures.
Finance Director Sarah Gilbert said that single sort recycling is $225 per ton, and municipal solid waste is $82 per ton.
“Our public works director believes this is going to go up,” she said.
Municipal solid waste is $442 per trip and single sort recycling is $539 per trip.
“That’s the bulk really of the increase,” Gilbert said.
Kelley asked if the amount of waste was increasing, too.
Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt said it varies each year. Her department is calculating the costs as higher this year because the hauling costs keep increasing. The fuel to haul trash and recycling increases the costs as well. Leavitt said she didn’t think there was too much increase in the tonnage produced.
Recycling goes to the Casella facility in Old Town. The company then transports Bar Harbor’s recycling to Lewiston where it is sorted at a processing facility.
“We do pay a high TIP fee for what we recycle,” Leavitt said. A tipping fee is the garbage disposal fee. There are multiple TIP fees in the draft budget and current budgets.
The current budget for solid waste for the town is $996,658, but is projected to come closer to $1,162,100. Next year’s expenditure is currently proposed at $1,222,450, a 22.7% increase.
The municipal trash can go to the landfill, PERC, or the Hamden facility once it is reopened. The town hasn’t used PERC for a long time, Leavitt said.
Warrant Committee member Shaun Farrar asked if commercial trash haulers do not pay to dump at the Bar Harbor facility.
Leavitt said that the logic behind this lack of a commercial dumping fee had been that the haulers are only picking up Bar Harbor generated trash, which is paid for via property taxes. Councilor Joe Minutolo suggested looking into that further.
Councilor Matthew Hochman asked about the decrease in municipal building rent space. The rent is a decrease of $3,000.
“We have two spaces that we’re no longer renting out,” Gilbert said.
Hochman asked about using the parking revenues to help with the recently passed Conners-Emerson school construction bond.
For every $100,000 pulled out, you save four cents on the MIL rate, Smith said.
Warrant Committee members and Town Councilors were asked to write down specific questions to Smith and Gilbert for them to answer in the future.
The school budget budget will be discussed Thursday, January 25 at 6:30 at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building, third floor, Council chambers. It is open to the public and will also be streamed here.
WARRANT COMMITTEE MEMBER NEEDED
The Warrant Committee’s Caleb Cough recently resigned and the committee hopes to appoint a replacement to serve until June.
The release reads,
“The Warrant Committee will appoint a new member to temporarily fill a vacancy created by a recent resignation from the committee. Under the Town Charter, the committee by majority vote appoints a qualified resident to serve until a new member is elected to the seat at the next regular election.
“Anyone interested in serving is encouraged to contact the Town Clerk’s office by 5 p.m. February 1. A formal application is not required, but a statement of why you’re interested in serving and what you feel you would bring to the committee is helpful.”
Contact 288-4098 with any questions. You can email statements to Graves’ office at clerk@barharbormaine.gov.
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.
All images are from the manager’s budget report linked below.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
The town’s budget documents are here.
To watch the discussion, click here.
All budget questions from the public can be sent to Smith. His email is jsmith@barharbormaine.gov.