Currently Proposed Bar Harbor Budget Would Raise Taxes About $220 a Year for Median Home
Jan 23, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Maine Seacoast Mission.
BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor’s budget binder is a lot smaller this year and though the overall budget is higher, the town’s portion of the the budget has been kept to a $31,000 increase despite a reduction in cruise ship revenue.
Filled with graphs, data, and line items, the budget for the next fiscal year, which begins on July 1, 2026, proposes a property tax commitment of $29,791,940.
That will likely change at least a bit.
The town council can tweak the budget that is eventually presented to voters in June. The warrant committee can also give recommendations, but does not have power to actually change it.
It also does not include finalized numbers for the Conners-Emerson budget and the high school assessment.
Last year’s initial budget recommendation called for raising $28,367,156. It ended up being slightly higher at $28,514,244.
This year’s initial budget shows a proposed increase of $1,277,696.
The increase to the actual municipal budget is $31,103, bringing it from $10,267,443 to $10,298,546.
The education budget increases by just over $1 million to $12,957,430. The county assessment increases by $118,112 to approximately $1,430,000. The MDI High School budget is currently expected to increase by $286,160 to just over $5 million. The AOS budget is embedded within the Conners-Emerson budget and high school budget.
The changes equal a $220 year increase for a median home, which in Bar Harbor is $522,350. The total tax bill for that home owner would be $5,574. The mill rate would be 10.67.
Estimates for the median income in Bar Harbor range, but tend to nestle in the $74,000 to $80,000 range with the U.S. Census Bureau reporting $74,408.
According to CNBC, “the amount households pay varies widely by state, with median annual property tax bills ranging from $9,163 in New Jersey, the highest in the nation, to $786 in Alabama, the lowest, according to the latest available 2023 Tax Foundation data.”
That data indicated that Maine’s median property tax bill is $2,886.
That number, however, doesn’t show differences caused by home values, tax rates, housing costs, tax exemptions, abatements, or state tax structures.
“From a fiscal perspective, the town continues to prioritize development of other revenue sources in order to reduce reliance on property taxation wherever possible. This includes deliberate attention to fees, leases, inter-fund contributions, grants, enterprise-based revenues, and other funding sources that more appropriately align costs with use,” Town Manager James Smith wrote in the budget narrative. “This strategy supports long-term fiscal sustainability while helping to ease the pressure on property taxpayers. The Town has also experienced declining cruise ship related revenues in recent years, which historically supported a portion of municipal services and capital obligations. Rather than allowing that decline to result in abrupt impacts to the property tax burden, the Town has taken intentional steps to manage this transition. This has included greater use of parking related revenues where appropriate, careful use of investment earnings, and limited and deliberate use of unassigned fund balance. These tools are applied to reduce volatility and mitigate potential shocks to taxpayers while longer term revenues and expenditure adjustments are developed.”
There will next be workshops with the council and the warrant committee.
The format of the budget presentation has been tweaked, explained Town Clerk Liz Graves, who went through the contents’ order.
Smith thanked all of the management team’s work and effort to “look at the numbers and look at the services” and “trying to deliver a high quality service for the best price possible.” He also thanked Betsy Spear for the graphics that are included to help create a snapshot and intuitive understanding of what the budget numbers might mean.
Smith said that the town’s budget is a balancing act. They are trying to put the emphasis where the needs exist and prioritize revenue sources that are not property taxes to help with the town’s long-term sustainability.
“That is ultimately our goal: to have a stable tax rate policy,” he said.
But he doesn’t want that to negate its fiscal position or not proactively and responsibly fund capital improvements and create future problems.
Councilor Randell Sprague and warrant committee member Brooke Blomquist did not attend.
TEN YEAR TRENDS
The ten-year trends for expenses and revenue show increasing revenues in all sectors except intergovernmental.
Those trends also show increasing expenses, particularly in general government and public safety.
PARKING REVENUE AND CRUISE SHIP FUNDS
Parking revenue, which comes from meters, lot spaces, and violations are expected to increase by approximately $100,000 for the next fiscal year. However, expenditures are expected to be more than the revenue, mostly due to an increase in administrative services.
The revenue presupposes parking rates that are $4 in downtown areas and $2 in outer areas.
It’s a pretty flat budget other than property tax relief, Finance Director Sarah Gilbert said.
Cruise ship revenue and expenditures have shifted radically since the town has created a cap on daily cruise ship disembarkations without fines. In 2024, cruise ship visits (and the fees) brought in more than a million dollars to the town. In 2025, unaudited numbers show just over $600,000 in revenue. This year, that revenue from cruise ship passenger fees and port development fees is expected to be $175,200.
“This is revenue only for grandfathered ships,” Gilbert said.
Those are ships that booked dates in the upcoming season prior to the town voting in cruise ship disembarkation limits.
Passenger service expenditures and cruise ship improvements are expected to be more than that at $286,272.
“We’ll be drawing down reserves,” Gilbert said, explaining how the town will make up the difference.
The Island Explorer will also no longer be funded from cruise ship money, but from parking revenues.
“Our cost for having cruise ships is more than our revenue this year,” Town Council Chair Val Peacock said.
There will be approximately $126,000 left in the reserves.
“What happens next year?” Peacock wondered. “Where would that money come from?”
Smith said, “The bottom line is that the cruise ship revenues are basically going to go away.”
The town’s objective has been to soft land that plane, he said, while trying to limit the shock to the taxpayer.
Next year, there could be reduction of services and other cuts.
“It’s a balancing act. I can’t predict what that will look like next year,” Smith said.
He believes that there will be some reduction of services that were traditionally funded by cruise ships or property taxes will likely have to go up to sustain those services.
COOPERATING AGENCY REQUESTS
This year, three high-receiving organizations—The MDI YMCA, Jesup Memorial Library, and the Island Explorer—will be working as agreements with the town so that the town and agency both know what services or financial commitment is expected from each.
Currently, the budget shows the YMCA, which also benefits from being on town property and using town fields and playground for its programs, as being flat funded at $180,000. This is more than three times what it received in fiscal year 2017.
The Island Explorer is also flat funded at just over $300,000, which is approximately 12 times more than in fiscal year 2022.
The Jesup Memorial Library shows flat funding at approximately $312,756, which is approximately double the funding it received in fiscal year 2023.
The application has been redesigned for the other agencies and could be done online.
“We were aiming to get consistent information” as well as key performance indicators, Graves said.
The third workshop is dedicated to cooperating agencies. There will be no presentations from the agencies. This is a change from the past and from other area towns. Instead all the information to the two bodies are curated through the form.
The budget currently flat funds most of the agencies with a decrease to Downeast Community Partners/Aroostook County Action Program, which requested less money this year from the town.
DEBT SERVICE
No debt is retired in the next six or seven years, Gilbert said. At 3.65%, Bar Harbor’s debt-to-value ration is well below the recommended 5%.
BUDGET TIMELINE
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
There is also a print binder available for review at the Jesup Memorial Library.
A QUICK NOTE
Shaun Farrar is a current elected member of the town’s warrant committee and one-half of the Bar Harbor Story. Though we are married and also work together, we do not always think exactly the same on things as simple as how to load a dishwasher, let alone budgets for towns.
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