HOULTON, Maine – The proposed Houlton town budget for next year is up 17.8 percent, according to town manager Jeremy Smith.
Smith presented the $16,160,631 proposed 2025 budget to the town council on Monday, Nov. 11, explaining that some of the increase comes from financial obligations to the school district.
This takes into consideration a $793,000 school budget increase for next year, an additional county tax of $211,000, a part-time minimum wage increase, increase in police department spending and an increase in employee benefits due to a nine percent increase in medical plan costs, said Smith.
“I am speechless,” said councilor Edward Lake during the presentation.
Next year’s budget is $2.45 million more than this year’s $13,712,315 budget with some of the highest increases coming from police, ambulance, public works, the arena, employee benefits, roads and RSU 29.
“The budget has to get cut,” said town councilor James Peters on Monday.
In 2024, the budget also increased more than $2 million and Peters cast the only dissenting vote.
During last week’s budget presentation, Peters said he would like to see the school district budget go out for a referendum vote versus a hand raising vote at the school during the final budget meeting.
“I think we should get that done,” he said.
Town taxpayers have been hit hard with property tax increases in the past several years, after a town property revaluation, decreased state contributions and school district increases.
In the 2023 revaluation of the town’s 3,109 properties, 333 property valuations increased more than 40 percent; 17 neighborhoods were more than 40 percent and the remaining 86 were below 40 percent, according to the town assessor Terry Duff.
A Bangor Daily News random survey of Houlton properties at the time found assessment increases from 2022 to 2023 on various streets, ranging from 40 percent to more than 100 percent.
For example, a property on Foxcroft Road went from $58,650 to $100,800; a property on Fair Street went from $81,650 to $150,100; a property on Elm Street went from $42,450 to $88,800; a property on Pleasant Street went from $174,850 to $282,900; and a property on Pearce Avenue went from $64,050 to $124,400.
A property previously valued at $64,000 was revalued at $124,400, meaning the $1,440 tax bill rose to approximately $ 2,562.
Now, if the budget is approved without changes, it will increase taxes again by 5.5 mills, according to Smith.
That means that a property valued at $100,000 would get $550 added to their property tax bill or a $200,000 property’s tax bill would increase approximately $1,100.
For the past several years Houlton Police Chief Tim DeLuca has submitted budgets that have been significantly cut by the town council and again this year, the police budget will likely see cuts, said Peters.
The bulk of the police budget increases for 2025 are in salaries, which include several new officers. The 2025 police ask is $1.7 million, up from $1.3 million in 2024.
During last year’s budget review meetings, members of the Houlton Board of Budget Review and town councilors questioned DeLuca about the police department’s proposed increases for salaries and staffing, including a $290,680 increase in regular police officer salaries. And in 2023, the town cut DeLuca’s $1.4 million budget request, despite objections by DeLuca who said the police department needed those funds for staffing.
For 2025, DeLuca is again asking for an increase in staffing dollars which includes $90,000 in overtime pay.
The roads repair budget number jumped from $200,000 in 2024 to $600,000 in 2025.
“There is an increase in roads and capital spending which if we put it in now will prevent us from asking for an additional amount from undesignated funds next year,” Smith said. “I definitely want to make sure ongoing road maintenance and capital projects are funded at the beginning of the year.”
The town is still looking for five more residents to serve on the budget review committee.
The budget review meetings are open to the public and will be held at 6 p.m. on Dec. 2, 4, 10, and 16, with a public hearing on Jan. 6.
