MADAWASKA, Maine – Madawaska officials set the town’s annual mill rate to $25.40 per $1,000 worth of evaluated property, which represents a 2.65 increase over last year’s rate of 22.76.
For a resident with an average value home in Madawaska worth roughly $150,000, this would result in a $3,810 bill. A person with a $150,000 home would be paying an additional $396 this year compared to last year’s bill, which would have been $3,414.
The town passed its annual budget in May, and Town Manager Gary Picard said increases went up about 10% across the board.
“We were able to offset some of those increases with additional revenue, like through Maine revenue sharing, but it was not enough to offset the increases that are coming,” he said.
Picard said the town didn’t see any significant increases in just one area, and that it was more of a general increase.
“Labor is going up,” he said. “Minimum wage keeps going up; it’s tied to the consumer price index now so we have to trend with that to make sure we’re staying ahead. The cost of materials, and everything is going up.”
Picard said the county and school budgets also increased, and that roughly half a million dollars worth of increases are associated with the school budget.
He added that these increases are affecting other nearby communities as well.
“Frenchville is at 24.8, St. Agatha went up by three mills, and Fort Kent didn’t go up on mill rate but they did a market value adjustment on the tax cards, so everybody’s assessments went up,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that we have to increase taxes when some people can hardly afford it, but at the same time we have got to provide services.”
And while Madawaska passes their annual budget earlier in the year, Picard said they typically wait until November, when the assessing work is finished, to finalize and pass the mill rate.
“We were hoping to have this meeting last week, but the assessing work wasn’t quite ready yet,” he said. “There’s been a lot of activity on the assessing side, and tracking those and making sure everything is in correctly is really important.”
Picard said the town outsources their tax billing, and is aiming to send out bills the week after Thanksgiving.
