LISBON — The Town Council unanimously adopted a $10.4 million municipal budget Tuesday, an 11.9% increase over last year’s $9.2 million.
The increase is largely due to the rising costs and the addition of several new municipal employee positions, according to interim Town Manager/Police Chief Ryan McGee.
New staff include a second school resource officer, a full-time firefighter/EMT, an assistant director position for the Parks and Recreation Department, a full-time driver/operator in Public Works, and an assistant town manager, which was first approved partway through the current spending plan.
The town will also contract with a planning company to help the town with “smart growth,” McGee said.
The growth in municipal government mirrors the growing community, which was ranked as the sixth hottest town for home sale growth in 2022 by Maine Life Real Estate. The former mill town saw a 14.5% growth in the number of homes sold from 2020 to 2021.
The town’s greatest capital improvement expenditure in the spending plan will be put toward the Ferry Road improvement project. McGee said the town is renovating the road, sidewalks, curbs, streetlights and more to “give that area a refreshed, rejuvenated look.”
Residents additionally approved a $19 million school budget in a 383-253 vote last week. The approved school budget represents a 5% increase from the current spending plan of $18 million, resulting in a local share increase of $317,218, or 4.2%.
Lisbon’s total budget, which includes the municipal, county and school budgets, is $19 million, a 7% increase from the previous fiscal year.
McGee said the tax rate will roughly be the same as it was in the 2021 fiscal year, although it has not been calculated yet.
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