HOULTON, Maine — The Houlton Town Council gave consensus approval Wednesday, Dec. 18, to an $11,296,542 budget for 2020.
With little discussion, the councilors approved the spending plan in about 11 minutes. The document will now go to a public hearing Monday, Jan. 6, where residents can pose questions on each line in the budget.
According to Town Manager Marian Anderson, although municipal spending is down $227,695 from the previous year, the town’s tax rate will likely be increasing for the first time in a number of years.
“This is a fiscally responsible budget,” Anderson said. “We are all mindful of the burden of taxes on our residents, but there is also the expectation that we provide good services. It can be difficult [living] in a service community, with so many [tax] exempt properties.”
Houlton has managed to maintain a tax rate of 22.25 mills for the past few years, but under the proposed 2020 budget, that tax rate will likely rise to 22.95 mills.
The good news is that the state’s Homestead Exemption is also rising in 2020 from $20,000 to $25,000. The Homestead Exemption is available to all people who claim a primary residence in the state of Maine. It does not apply to individuals who own multiple properties.
What that means for those many residents who benefit from the Homestead Exemption is a reduction in their overall property tax bill. For example, a home valued at $80,000 carried a property tax bill of $1,335 in 2019. That tax bill for 2020, even with the increased mill rate, would be $1,262 in 2020.
Homes that are valued a bit higher will see a slight increase. For example, a home valued at $180,000 paid a tax bill of $3,671 for 2019. That same property would be $3,672 [a $1 increase] in 2020.
The final tax rate, however, will not be determined until firm numbers for the RSU 29 budget and County Tax are provided. The school budget is not finalized until June.
One area where the town was able to reduce its municipal spending was in its roads account. The town has traditionally funded its roads account at $200,000, but last year allocated $300,000 in an effort to repave as many town streets as possible. That plan did not prove to be sufficient to meet all of the needs of roads needing repairs, Anderson said.
Allocating $200,000 for roads in 2020 will almost certainly be insufficient to get the job done, Anderson said, and would likely only be enough to get by for part of the year.
Therefore, a complete examination of every road within the town limits is now ongoing, with the goal of identifying those roads that are in critical need of repaving or upgrading. Once that study is complete, the council will have to seek a municipal bond from voters to fund a large paving project for the community.
Overall, though, Anderson said she was pleased with the cooperation between the town, Board of Budget Review and herself, during her first budget season as Houlton’s town manager.
“It was a pleasure working with the Board of Budget Review for the first time,” Anderson said. “I would also like to thank the department heads and your [council’s] leadership team for presenting a good budget. This group is very fiscally responsible.”
