Bangor City Council approved a $145.1 million budget Monday, marking a $7.4 million increase from the previous fiscal year.
The new spending plan includes a slate of new staff positions that city staff determined to be “critical” and “high” priority.
The city’s tax rate will lower to $17.13 per $1,000 of valuation in the upcoming year. Although this is a lower tax rate than the previous year, residents’ tax bills could still go up if their property values increase.
The budget is made up of $79.3 million in city expenses and $65.8 million in school expenses. Those city and school budgets are going up by 5.2% and 5.6% from last year, respectively.
New positions include another assistant city solicitor, additional clerks, eight firefighters and IT security positions, among others. The city will also transition Community Connector bus drivers and one park ranger to full-time employees and dedicate funding for its housing support navigator and homeless response coordinator, both positions that were previously funded by pandemic relief money.
The council also approved a budget increase request by the Bangor Public Library, which included about $90,000 to fund the library’s social worker position. The police department will also add a second downtown patrol officer using downtown tax increment financing funds.
The overall budget passed in a 5-3 vote, with councilors Michael Beck, Daniel Carson, Susan Deane, Joe Leonard and Angela Walker voting yes and councilors Susan Faloon, Wayne Mallar and Susan Hawes voting no. Councilor Carolyn Fish did not vote on the budget after walking out of the meeting during discussion of a proposed ordinance regarding the city’s relationship with federal immigration agencies earlier in the evening.
Faloon said she could not “in good conscience” vote to approve the budget because the council should have cut back more from the initial draft.
Two residents took issue with the budget increase during public comment at Monday’s meeting.
“You’re looking at spreadsheets. Our elderly and our renters are looking at financial ruin,” Scott Pardy said, adding that rising tax bills due to property tax increases would price some residents out of the city.
The appropriation for the Bangor School Department passed in a 7-1 vote, with just Mallar voting against. He previously said he wouldn’t support a school budget increase because of the department’s services for multilingual students, whom he called “illegals.”
Bangor’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.