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The Orono Town Council approved a $16 million municipal budget for the upcoming fiscal year Monday evening. Town expenses are up $180,000, or just over 1%, from last year.
It’s unknown how the budget will change the town’s property tax because property valuations have not been set yet. Past projections have been incorrect, so the town waits to set the tax rate, Town Manager Clint Deschene previously said. Last year’s property tax rate was $21.40.
Orono councilors worked to keep expenses low by using reserve accounts, delaying funding capital projects to later years and asking departments to limit overtime.
“There were great adjustments made throughout this to get us to this point, and as low as we could,” said Deschene, who called it a “status-quo budget” that keeps services at their current level.
Budgets for next fiscal year across Greater Bangor are slated to go up. Multiple communities are keeping services at current levels, but have larger budgets due to spikes in costs for wages and insurances.
The amount of taxes Orono residents will pay in the next fiscal year is based on combined assessments from municipal, school and county budgets.
Regional School Unit 26, Orono’s school district, increased its budget by roughly $769,000, or 9%. The town’s portion of the county budget spiked by $232,000. The town, school and county tax increased how much the town will collect in taxes by 4.63%. More than $26.7 million will be collected in the upcoming fiscal year.