Town passes budget and land use ordinances in quick Tuesday meeting.
May 13, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Bank.
TREMONT—Like a backup quarterback who plays almost the entire game and pulls off a decisive win, Assistant Moderator Keri Hayes managed to moderate the entire voting portion of Tremont’s Annual Town Meeting in less than 45 minutes on Tuesday night, May 12.
There were approximately 65 people in the audience for the meeting where—though other aspects of the budget increased—the town’s actual municipal budget did not.
After reviewing the ballot voting results from the night before, Moderator Peter Madeira said that he had a persistent cough and was going to turn the meeting over to Hayes.
REVIEWED BALLOT RESULTS
The following are the results that Madeira reviewed prior to excusing himself.
The voters of Tremont approved a limited deer hunt in its town with a vote of 314-227. The plan still has to receive final approval from Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
The town also approved support for the town’s share (approximately $2 million) of a grant that was applied for to finance a potential new public safety building, 332-206.
There were two open seats on the Tremont Select Board and three contenders to fill those seats.
Voters returned McKenzie Jewett to her Select Board seat for another three-year term, and they also elected Ben Harper, who received 318 votes. Mike Reynolds received 167 votes.
Howard “Howdy” Goodwin’s term expired this year and he had chosen not to run again. Vice Chair McKenzie Jewett’s term also expired this year and she was running for reelection.
Patricia Thurlow and Jessica Stewart were both elected to the School Committee, gathering 395 votes and 315 votes respectively.
There was no candidate for the MDI School District Trustee.
A total of 545 ballots were cast in the election.
TOWN MEETING RESULTS – SCHOOL BUDGET
One reason that the meeting was so fast was that there was hardly any comments or questions about the warrant articles. In fact, of all three of the voting styles, verbal, show of hands, and written ballot, all votes passed easily and only the one written ballot vote received any nays.
That written ballot vote was for Article 14.
Article 14 passed 56-5
Articles 12, 13 (a zero sum), and 14 combined make up the total town appropriation portion of the school budget of $5,034,430. All of the articles passed. The current fiscal year’s amount for town appropriation was $4,587,820.
Article 15 shows the total authorized budget for the school. The authorized amount of $6,011,165 is captured in Articles 1-11.
Article 15 was a hand vote and passed 57-0
The high school tax assessment rose by $78,227 to $1,428,075, a 5.8% increase over the current fiscal year’s amount of $1,349,848.
This brings the total education budget tax assessment to $6,462,505 for FY2027.
TOWN MEETING RESULTS – MUNICIPAL BUDGET AND OTHER MUNICIPAL ARTICLES
The municipal budget had a 0% increase and remains at the current year’s $1,519,525.
The town’s share of the county budget rose by $24,742 or 6.8% to $391,168.
The assessor’s estimated overlay remains the same as the current year at $27,000.
All of these amounts plus the education budget of $6,462,505 combine to make up the total of the town’s $8,400,198 tax assessment to be paid by property taxes.
On a home with an assessed value of $400,000, this equates to a yearly property tax increase of approximately $260.
$248.04 of that amount is for the school budget and $11.70 is for the county budget.
There were two articles on the warrant that had minor changes to percentage amounts. Voters were notified of these changes in writing upon arriving at the town offie and signing in.
Article 32 changed from a percentage rate of 7.5% to a percentage rate of 7%.
Article 37 changed from a percentage rate of 3.75% to a percentage rate of 3.5%.
All municipal budget articles passed.
TOWN MEETING RESULTS – LAND USE ORDINANCES
There were four land use ordinance articles and all passed.
All of the land use ordinance articles passed. You can find explanations for the ordinances and all of the separate ordinance language in the links below.
May2026explanation
103KB ∙ PDF file
Finaldraftnonconformance
301KB ∙ PDF file
Finaldraftcorrectionsandreorganization
329KB ∙ PDF file
Finaldrafttemporarysalesgovernmentaluse
276KB ∙ PDF file
Finaldraftld427
232KB ∙ PDF file
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Draft public safety building plans –
Tremont Psb Draft Report Final
11.4MB ∙ PDF file
Deer hunt plan –
Tremont Special Hunt Request Draft 03 16 2026
265KB ∙ PDF file
Full town meeting warrant –
Tremont Atm Warrant 2026
596KB ∙ PDF file
All photos: Shaun Farrar/BHS
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