Carrie Jones

Mar 23, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Edward Jones Financial Advisor: Elise N. Frank.

---

BAR HARBOR—A letter from ten Bar Harbor residents who use town water has been sent to the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) challenging the town’s proposed water rate increase.

Any water rate adjustment has to be approved by the state commission (PUC) prior to a town or city changing those rates.

Charles Sidman, a resident of Bar Harbor who led the cruise ship initiative to lower cruise ship disembarkations to 1,000 or less a day, has filed the letter.

“We, the undersigned, are customers of the Town of Bar Harbor Water Utility, and hold 10 separate accounts with the utility. (We could also get you 20, 50 or even 100 more if you wanted.),” it begins. “For many years our town’s residents have experienced discriminatory water rates that have substantially favored larger customers, thus both disrespecting and causing substantial economic hardship to average citizens such as ourselves. We have complained to the Town on several occasions as part of this rate increase process (s/a) and the problems have not been addressed. We therefore request the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to investigate and intervene. The narrative below provides both a Public Comment asking for disapproval of Bar Harbor’s current rate increase request, and a more general 10-Person Complaint seeking the end of years of inequitable treatment on the part of our municipal authorities. If attention by other state offices might also be appropriate, we would welcome their involvement as well.”

The other signers are not listed in the document that Sidman made available to the press and sent to the town.

Sidman’s three-page letter details that the complaint is based on his belief that the town has a “harmfully preferential and discriminatory” water rate structure that harms smaller users of water and benefits larger consumers of the resource. He also argues that the town was not transparent as it proposed the changes to the public and PUC.

Sidman had collected signatures outside of a Bar Harbor business and sent a flyer to residents. Collecting 300 signatures would have triggered a different level of review from the state’s commission. The window to do so was 30 days.

The proposed water rate change comes after a decade of no changes at all.

The rate plan has already been sent as part of the process. The current budget has a shortfall of approximately $1 million.

The past shortfalls have been made up by using the reserves, Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt has previously said. Those reserves have dwindled. The budget shortfall also stems from other planned capital improvement projects. Other causes, according to town staff, are inflation, increases to staff salaries, increase in capital investment.

Several residents spoke against the plan during a public hearing at a Town Council meeting in February.

Town Manager James Smith said that he understood their worries and sentiments, but that there was misinformation being perpetuated about the rates and water budget, rates that aren’t easily explained in simple terms, he said.

While the rates themselves are a flat 35% increase for usage over the assumed minimum, that is only consumption, Public Works Director Bethany Leavitt explained. There are fixed dollar amounts in meter accounts, which represent a certain amount of the budget revenue.

The assumed minimums vary according to the size of the meters.

The PUC allows 1.5% interest increase annually after the general revaluation, which was what is occurring now. The councilors indicated that they’d like to review it again next year and see how it was impacting the water customers.

“Up until now we’ve practically given the water away,” Councilor David Kief said in February.

He’d like to look at it again in a year, worrying about the impact to residents and potentially go toward the bulk users a bit more. He was the sole vote against the change.

It’s about $8 a month increase for average residential users, Councilor Earl Brechlin said, which translates to $24 a quarter.

Sidman’s letter calls the reform more cosmetic than meaningful and advocates a single-block rate, which town officials have previously said would raise residents’ water rates. He also questioned the financial urgency of the change saying that the town has $4-5 million in reserves. The town’s finance director and Leavitt have spoken about the need to change the rates and for a water study to do so for a few years. The letter also questions the procedure of filing the rate change prior to holding a public hearing about the proposal.

Sanitized Puc 031926

457KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Correction: I did my math wrong somehow and it would be $24 a quarter, which has been corrected at 4:30 p.m., March 23. Many apologies.

---

HELP SUPPORT THE BAR HARBOR STORY

When we started The Bar Harbor Story, we didn’t know if anyone would read it. But you showed up. You shared. You sent tips. Now—over 400,000 views every month later—it’s clear: people here care about their community and each other.

We’ve kept everything free because news should never be out of reach, but every one of our stories takes time to write, and your support keeps The Bar Harbor Story going.

If you value our work, please consider a paid subscription, a founding membership, or a sponsorship.

It truly helps us cover one more meeting, tell one more story, shine one more light.

Even $5 a month makes a difference. Click here to become a one-time supporter now.

Thank you so much for being here.

Founding member information can be found here.

Have questions about sponsorships? Just send Shaun an email at sfarrar86@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you.