JUN 05, 2024
BAR HARBOR—With hardly a pause during their town meeting, Bar Harbor voters passed its budget Tuesday evening, approving a $27,272,143 budget, the same amount as the Warrant Committee’s recommendation. The Town Council had recommended a $27,268,529 budget. This is an approximately $4 million increase from last year’s recommendations. The mill rate last year (current FY24 budget) was .00868, and this year it will be .01004.
Approximately 170 Bar Harbor town voters and others gathered on a sunny Tuesday evening for town meeting at the Conners Emerson gymnasium. The meeting focused on the municipal and school budgets with the main controversy focusing around whether the town should pass a $2 million tax cap override.
“This may be the only controversial element tonight. The voters do have a choice here,” Charles Sidman, who is running for a council seat, said. He was one of four people who spoke from the public during the meeting. “If voters find this budget acceptable, they should vote to override.” If not, they should not, he said.
The voters voted 106 to 68 to support the override.
State law dictates that if the amount raised by the town exceeds a certain amount created by a state formula, the town must vote for an override. This requirement has been repealed by the state, but it is not yet in effect.
Diane Vreeland asked to reduce the cap override of $2,769,258 by one million and advocated a no vote on the override motion.
“A lot of us senior citizens are finding this very difficult with this spending and hiring,” Vreeland said. She said young families would also suffer from the increasing property taxes that result from increasing budgets.
Susan Letcher said that she had a six year old in the schools, and advocated keeping the override to maintain the town services, particularly the services in the schools, which, she said, would keep young families like hers in town.
Councilor Gary Friedmann, who is running for both council reelection and the state house, said this was the most difficult budget he’s faced while on the Council and called the budget a perfect storm of pressures. He was the only councilor who made comment.
“We face unprecedented litigation,” he said. “I’ve never seen the legal bills pile up this high.”
BUDGET ARTICLES
Prior to the meeting, the Superintending School Committee, Town Council, and Warrant Committee all unanimously recommended the adoption of all the education articles.
Those school articles detailed in the warrant images below all passed unanimously with no discussion
SCHOOL ARTICLES
The school articles (B-L) passed in less than ten minutes with most carrying unanimously by voice votes with an occasional nay. The hand count of article M was 141 to 4. Article N was a written vote where yes or no was torn off and put into a ballot box. It passed 127-38 and raised (with article n), a total town appropriation of $7,605,474 of additional local funds for the education budget. The total town expenditures of funding education for the education budget was $8,805,537, which passed 144 to 3.
ARTICLE Q: The Overdraft
This article was to allow the town to approve an overdraft of the fiscal year 2023 budget and ratify the action of the Town Council to satisfy expenditures that led to the overdraft via a new draw of $198,752.
“Essentially the town increased expenses, primarily the legal expense line,” said Town Manager James Smith.
There was no other discussion and no audible nays for the article, which passed.
ARTICLES R and S
The Warrant Committee recommended a larger expenditure than the Town Council and the town agreed, voting to raise $27,272,143.
The Warrant Committee recommended funding the Mount Desert Nursing Association an extra $3,000 for hospice care because Northern Light was stopping that service. They hospital had covered about 30-40 patients. An additional $600 was given to the Bar Harbor Food Pantry on top of its original request.
MODERATOR
Attorney Stephen Wagner was elected moderator for the meeting. All comments, questions, and statements were to be addressed through him and directed to him. Those attending also voted to allow non-residents to speak.
OTHER BUDGET INFORMATION
The fiscal year 2025 (FY2025) budget year is from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025.
The Town Council recommended revenues of $13,646,208; and using $412,242 from the Cruise Ship Fund Balance; and $457,428 from the Parking Fund Balance.
The net impact for the currently proposed budget is around a 15.7% increase for a median home owner with a home valued at approximately $525,000.
The median income for a Bar Harbor resident was closer to $67,000 in 2022. Home assessments and valuations, particularly in downtown Bar Harbor have increased dramatically despite the income of who owns the home. A person with a home now valued at $750,000 (above the median) could have an income well below the median.
JUNE 11 ELECTIONS
The election for councilors, Warrant Committee members, School Committee, and MDI High School trustees occurs June 11, a Tuesday, at the Bar Harbor Municipal Building’s third-floor auditorium. Voting is from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Councilors are elected to three-year terms. There are two seats.
Warrant Committee members are for three-year terms. There are five spots open. Meg Kelly and Bailey Stillman are running for their seats. Also running are Brooke “Zana” Blomquist, Steven Boucher, Barbara Dunphey, and Gary “Bo” Jennings. Boucher has been on the committee before.
Marie Yarborough is running unopposed for the School Committee. Robert Jordan Jr. is running unopposed for the MDI High School Board of Trustees.
Land Use Ordinance amendments will also be on the June 11 ballot.
For stories about candidates and forums, go to our section called Candidate Profiles here. Blomquist and Boucher did not turn in a profile, but if they do, we’ll update them there.
Disclosure: Shaun Farrar, who is my husband, is on the town’sWarrant Committee.
Correction: We misspelled Susan Letcher’s name. Many thanks to Jill Webber for letting us know!
Photos taken by Shaun Farrar and Carrie Jones
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Shame on this town for only allowing employees/teachers and politicians for deciding their financial fate.
If you did not come to the town meeting, you have no right to complain. Amazing to me how as much whining there is by a certain faction of voters that we need to make this or that affordable, they decide to make everything less affordable. Everyone wants something they cannot afford, whether it is a car, home or location for that home. You cannot just “make” it affordable. By the way, vote for Nate Young and Charles Sidman as they my have a clue more so than the existing “pet” project and “it will benefit me” crowd we have now. Also vote down the land ordinances as this town government is in way over its head.