Southwest Harbor budget is all set. Election is today.

Carrie Jones

May 05, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by The Witham Family Hotels Charitable Fund.

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SOUTHWEST HARBOR—One by one, voters filed into the Pemetic Elementary School gymnasium Monday night.

Some left their kids home with a partner to get ready for bed.

Some missed their normal evening rituals.

Some went to bed a bit later than normal.

But more than 130 voters made the choice to come and spend just about two hours going through and approving the budget for the town and the school.

There were moments of celebration.

The town’s sidewalk project is done. They’ve received grant funding for the lower town dock and FEMA funding for shoreline repairs from those January storms and $2.4 million in CDS for a new public works building. The town has received another $780k for street improvements.

Town Manager Karen Reddersen thanked the town staff during her second meeting as town manager and gave a shout-out to Jen and Maddy, the town clerks during clerk week. She also thanked the town volunteers and committee members.

There were moments of sorrow.

“We’ve had some sadness this year with the passing of our code enforcement officer, John Larsen,” Reddersen said.

Joe Marshall moderated the meeting. Adam Babbitt was the deputy moderator.

There were multiple moments of getting it done, asking questions, and conversation as voters followed along with the articles, written on blue pages in the town’s report.

Those attending found out that Southwest Harbor has a higher percentage of special education students than any other town in the school system. Those who didn’t already know learned that proposed paid parking programs were not for in town but select waterfront areas.

They found out the school is looking into green initiatives for transportation and other areas. They learned what the four select board candidates felt were important. And they learned that the school needed to replace a bus with another diesel bus.

Electric buses currently are “troublesome,” School Superintendent Mike Zboray said, and until those issues are ironed out it would be “impudent” to buy one.

The biggest work of the night, however, was approving the town warrant’s budget lines.

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SCHOOL ARTICLES

There were ten articles that voters authorized to allow the School Committee to fund instruction beginning July 1, 2026, and ending June 30, 2027.

Ten warrant articles about the school combined made a total proposed budget of $5,900,630, up from $5,484,691. Most of that comes from the town: Articles 15,16,&17 raised a total town appropriation of $ 5,131,582. The year before that amount was $4,712,030.

It was the town appropriation for the school budget that had the most division when it came to turning in the hand ballots with a vote of 91-41.

“Gosh, this budget is huge,” one man said. “There doesn’t seem to be an end to it.”

Nancy Wiengarten worried about the cost per student of over $42,000.

That cost includes maintaining the building, transportation, and debt.

The state average, which does not include building, transportation, and debt is $13,000 per student. If those were stripped out of Southwest Harbor, it would be $27,000 per student.

A proposed region-wide consolidation, Zboray said, would save money for Southwest Harbor residents.

“How?” one women asked.

“Because you’re spreading out the costs to the member towns,” Zboray said.

They did not go into specifics.

One women asked how many Coast Guard students were in the town’s school system and what the federal reimbursement was per student. There are between 12-15 students from Coast Guard families.

The school received $27k last year for those students. This year, they anticipate $20k. Next year, they are anticipating $18k. That is not paid tuition, but a set federal formula.

The town approved $2,341,899 for regular instruction. In the last fiscal year (2025-26), the amount was $2,183,106.

The special education budget was $1,302,924. In the last fiscal year (2025-26), the amount was $1,186,794.

Other instruction added an additional $127,201. The year before had been $120,572.

Student & Staff Support added $637,021, up from $598,102 Those are things such as guidance councilors and staff.

System administration added $143,201, up from $130,239.

School Administration was $341,528, up from $329,214.

Transportation and buses was $258,082, up from $241,913.

Facilities maintenance was $683,774, up from $629,751.

All other expenditures was $65,000, staying the same as last year’s $65,000.

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TOWN ARTICLES

The multi-million dollar general government warrant article passed, but gathered some discussion, which is part of the point of town meeting.

In many places, town meetings have been part of New England town government life for 250 years. It takes time, however, and energy to attend and go through the articles one by one.

For Southwest Harbor there were 46 articles discussed Monday night. They each required voting. Some required discussion, thoughts, research, clarifications.

One question was about the rising cost of town government.

“We’re seeing increases for our public safety department,” Select Board Chair Noah Burby explained.

They are trying to fund a fourth police officer and deputy clerk as well as paying for debt service.

“We’ve also increased the fire chief’s wage,” Reddersen said as well as an increased hydrant rental rate and union contract negotiations in police, public works, and dispatch.

One woman asked for specifics rather than generalities being presented in the articles.

Burby said they don’t include benefit appendices that could be linked to individuals. Historically, Reddersen said this is what the town typically provides. However, they did crunch some numbers on the spot to help give out more specifics.

Some other voters worried about the increase in the police department budget. Another had a concern about seniors having increased property taxes and being able to stay in their homes.

“I just think of our future,” the woman said.

She said it’s hard to come to the meeting and see those increases when you worry about pricing out seniors.

The town administration request was $4,423,508, up from $3,632,521 the year before. The bulk of that came from the town’s police department (at just over $1 million), contracted services, and administration.

Marshall declared that the article passed with a voice count though there were multiple nays.

“I doubt it,” one man called from the top of the bleachers.

And so, a hand count was called.

In the end, the motion passed by hand count, 87-20. After, a few people quietly left.

The library was given $75,000; the Harbor House just under $71,000; the Island Explorer received $10,000; and the ambulance service was appropriated $218,000.

The town also appropriated money in multiple reserve accounts, capital improvement accounts (for long-term plans and future funding of larger expenses), as well as debt service payments.

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CANDIDATES

There are two seats up for grabs on Southwest Harbor’s seven-member board.

The election will be today, May 5, at the Southwest Harbor Fire Station on 250 Main Street in Southwest Harbor. Polling hours are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In that race, Carolyn Ball chose not to run for reelection for her three-year seat. Vice Chair Chapin McFarland is up for re-election. There are four running for those two seats.

McFarland is joined in the race by Thomas W Benson, Kalie Hess, and Melanie Lisy.

The Pemetic School Committee’s two incumbents—Clifford Noyes and Maria Spallino—are running unopposed for their three-year seats.

There is no candidate for the one seat on the MDI High School Board of Trustees.

The four select board candidates spoke prior to the town meeting, May 4. Each took a turn at the podium and spoke for three minutes.

Benson spoke toward building downtown for success and increasing year-round community while also working to lower school and municipal budget, worried about driving out families due to the increasing property tax.

Hess spoke of balance and encouraging participation of more residents in town decisions. She’s been struck, she said, by the wealth of talent of the individuals in town.

Lisy spoke to paying attention to schools, affordability, and taxes. She spoke of truly listening to a variety of people and inclusion. She also mentioned family and community connections.

McFarland discussed the difficulty of finding housing in town and called for pushing forward for more opportunities to get families into Southwest Harbor, and continuing to look to consolidation of certain services with other area towns. He also spoke to wanting to continue to work on and finish multiple town projects.

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All photos: Carrie Jones/Bar Harbor Story

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LINKS TO LEARN MORE

To read the warrant

Who is Who? The Southwest Harbor Select Board Candidates.

Carrie Jones

·

Apr 14

Read full story

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