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FORT KENT, Maine — Aroostook County Commissioners set next year’s tax commitment at $16.3 million from The County’s communities and unorganized places.
After approving the budget earlier this month, commissioners met Wednesday in Fort Kent to approve the total assessment, which is up $2 million from last year.
The entire annual budget, roughly $23.2 million, is nearly 11% higher than this year’s total, due mainly to law enforcement costs. As a result, towns will pay higher county taxes, but the final tax rates will be different for property owners in each town or city.
The total valuation of all Aroostook communities this year is $8.1 billion, with municipalities at $7.1 billion and unorganized territories at just under $1 billion. That’s up from a total of $6.49 billion last year.
Taxes are due Sept. 26.
Interest of 7% will be applied to all unpaid tax balances after Nov. 1, according to County Administrator Dana Gendreau.
Commissioner Daniel Deveau asked Gendreau if the interest rate was 7% by statute.
“It’s not a statute,” Gendreau said. “It changes every year based on the state of Maine statute that they publish. So we can put any rate we want, but we cannot go over 7%.”
Last year’s rate was 7.5% and the year before that, it was 8.5%, she said.
Commissioners set the mill rate to 20.15 and the overlay to $283,331.
The overlay is money set aside in case county officials need to issue any tax abatements.
Last year, the county’s $14.6 million tax summary included a 19.7 mill rate and a $268,355 overlay.
Factors leading to the increases in this year’s budget include a $1 million increase in the general fund and an almost $700,000 increase in the jail budget. The unorganized territory budget increased by roughly $640,00.
Law enforcement costs increased by 11% to $5.2 million primarily due to salaries, benefits, the cost of ammunition, and increased training and education staff. The jail also rose to $7 million for the first time, while revenues in this department dropped by more than $200,000.