Ballot Results and the Winner of the Bicycle Giveaway

Shaun Farrar

May 21, 2026

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by the Bar Harbor Music Festival.

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TRENTON—Just over 50 voters attended the Trenton Elementary School gym on Tuesday, May 19, and they approved articles 6-59 of the town’s warrant.

There was little discussion and though there were clarifying questions and a couple of comments that cast disagreement on some proposed articles, there were no motions for changes to be made to any of the articles.

First, Moderator John Bennett went over the results of articles 2-5, which were the town’s ballot votes that had occurred the day before. Article 1 is simply the election of a moderator, Bennett, to preside over voting on both days.

After article 11 was voted on, Bennett took a quick break to raffle off a mountain bike that he had donated.

Bennett’s idea was to give away a bike to any sixth, seventh, or eighth grade student that attended the town meeting and stayed long enough to be present for the raffle.

The bike was a Trek Roscoe mountain bike and the winning student was Michael Madore.

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TOWN MEETING RESULTS – SCHOOL BUDGET

The total Trenton Elementary School budget is $6,227,040 a $284,317 increase over the FY25/26 amount of $5,942,723.

Of this $6,227,040 the amount to be raised from taxes is $5,467,648. This amount reflects a $341,220 or 6.66% increase over last year’s amount of $5,126,428.

While all of the school budget articles passed, three were hand count votes and one was a written ballot vote. Those four articles are below and encapsulate all of the other related articles as noted.

Article 27 was a hand count vote and passed by a vote of 35-4.

Article 28 was a hand count vote and passed by a vote of 41-0.

Article 29 was the only written ballot vote and passed by a vote of 30-17.

Articles 27, 28, and 29 represent the total of the Trenton town appropriation amount to be raised from taxes of $5,467,648. This amount reflects a $341,220 or 6.66% increase over last year’s amount of $5,126,428. The FY26/27 budget amount equates to $74.21 per $100,000 of valuation for property taxpayers.

Article 30 was a hand count vote and it passed by a vote of 42-7.

Article 30 represents the total maximum authorized expenses for the school. It is higher than the tax appropriated amount because it includes amounts that will be offset by tuition receipts, state subsidies, unexpended balances, and any other support. The total authorized amount is $6,227,040 a $284,317 increase over the FY25/26 amount of $5,942,723.

This amount of $6,227,040 is captured in articles 16-26.

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TOWN MEETING RESULTS – MUNICIPAL BUDGET AND OTHER MUNICIPAL ARTICLES

The municipal budget had an increase of $107,676 or 8.1% and rose to $1,433,323. Most of the increases were due to rising costs such as electricity, heating, oil and salaries. The increases also include $20,000 for a new sign for the municipal building and $10,000 for a new copier for the town office.

The town’s share of the county budget rose by $22,840 or 8.6% to $289,474.

Both of these amounts plus the education budget of $6,227,040 combine to make up the total of the town’s total budget of $7,949,837. After revenues and the usage of funds from different assigned, dedicated, and unassigned funds the total tax assessment to be paid by personal and property taxes is $6,015,946. This represents a total increase of $395,690 or 7.2%.

According to a the town’s Municipal Officers’ Report, for every tax dollar that needs to be raised, “$0.041 is for municipal government, $0.047 is for county tax, and $0.91 is for education.”

The full warrant is below.

Trenton Warrant

11.6MB ∙ PDF file

Download

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