Carrie Jones

Jan 07, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.

---

BAR HARBOR—After a decade of no change, the town’s water rates are likely to go up by 35%.

The increase is meant to cover an approximate $1 million budget shortfall for an approved budget of $3.3 million. The current rate results in $2.2 million revenue.

This makes the town a little over a million shy of meeting that part of the budget, Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt told the Bar Harbor Town Council, January 6.

The increase is meant to fund the fiscal year 2026 water budget, which the council adopted in August 2025.

“Typically, you want to do this on a more frequent basis,” Leavitt said.

“A lot has changed since 2016,” Town Council Chair Valerie Peacock said. Changes include updates to the town’s water division.

In Bar Harbor, the water rates are currently based on different meter sizes. Customers pay according to their meter size and usage. Seasonal and year-round customers also have different set minimums for quarterly rates of usage.

Now, after ten years, changes are proposed, Leavitt explained to the councilors. Councilor Joe Minutolo had an excused absence and was not at the meeting.

In order to meet those funding needs and stay compliant with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) requirement, Leavitt recommended increasing all rates for all meter sizes by 35%.

For the minimum residential user this equates to about $26.64 a quarter if they are using under the 1200 cubic feet minimum. That’s an annual increase of $106.56 with a minimum annual bill of $411.32.

The largest meters for seasonal customers face an annual increase of $5,512.92 with a minimum annual bill of $21,264.16.

They did not present what a flat rate would be though Annaleis Hafford, P.E., vice-president of Olver Associates Inc. said they’d looked at many options and had considered it, but it would have been pretty drastic.

The public hearing date will be February 17, 2026 with a final filing to the PUC at the end of February.

The seasonal and year-round customers both had a 35% increase. However, the seasonal rate itself is higher than the year-round rate.

“This option seemed to kind of spread it around so it wasn’t any one entity taking it on. I think we’re treating the residential people fairly,” Hafford said.

There are also changes to the hydrant rental fees. This is linked to gross revenue of the fire department. PUC rules prevent that from being more than 30%.

There are new tier structures for the water rates. The water system also charges for municipal and private water protection. They charge hydrants through the municipal system.

Town Manager James Smith asked what the 35% rate increase would have been if it had happened each of the years between 2016 and now. It would have been a 3.5% annual increase instead, on average. Smith said that increase would have been below inflation.

The goal is to get rates in place for April, Hafford said.

The PUC now allows 1.5% increases annually, which is something Hafford said that she and Leavitt have been talking about for the future.

Peacock asked, “Why is it if you use more you pay less?”

“A lot of the people who use more have a much bigger meter and they pay more because they have a bigger meter, but they do pay less when they use overage. In general that’s how it’s always been done. We have actually changed that a great deal,” Hafford said.

Hafford had worried that it was too much of a change to get rid of that completely. Tier two and three are now at increased rates, she said.

“We were charging much less” for those tiers, she said.

---

COUNCILOR COMMENTS

At the end of the meeting, councilors had the opportunity to make comments.

Councilor Earl Brechlin thanked Planning Board Chair Millard Dority for his service and time and said that he understood his frustration. Dority resigned this weekend. He cited frustration and his hopes that the town would have been focusing more on creating housing opportunities.

”It’s not of our doing,” Brechlin said. “We have to react with the times and the needs of this community. Thank you, Millard, and thank you everyone who serve on these boards and committees. We appreciate your service.”

Peacock asked if there were any plans for the country’s bicentennial for the town. It is actually the sesquicentennial, the country’s 250th birthday.

Smith asked for the fire chief to investigate some flags for Main Street. “I think there’s a lot of other things the town could do for that,” Smith said.

Peacock gave a shout-out to the people who helped set up the ice skating rink.

“It’s pretty cool,” she said.

---

LINKS TO LEARN MORE

Current Water Rates

Water Division Webpage

To watch the meeting.

---

BRIEFS AND PRESS RELEASES SINCE YESTERDAY

You can find all of our briefs/press releases and past news stories here. Just the briefs are here.