PARIS — The Oxford County Budget Committee on Tuesday adopted a municipal services budget for the unorganized territories that calls for a 35 percent tax increase on property owners.
The fiscal year 2014-15 budget includes $1,355,655 in expenditures, a 32 percent increase from this year’s budget. According to the budget, $1,185,959 of the expenditures will come from property taxes. The increase in expenditures may hike the tax rate by $1.10, to $4.25 per $1,000 in property value. The increase applies only to property owners in the unorganized territories.
Committee members also adopted a resolution to permanently increase the county’s growth limitation in the unorganized territories, allowing it to raise the same amount in taxes next year.
According to County Administrator Scott Cole, the increase in taxes will be applied to a long-term repair project for roads and bridges in the 19 unorganized territories. The county maintains 56 miles of road in the territories, according to Cole.
Service delivery and property tax administration in the state’s unorganized territories are shared by counties and various state agencies, according to the Maine Revenue Services website.
The budget adopted by the committee will be reviewed and approved by the Legislature, which serves as the local governing body for the state’s 400 townships, according to Maine Revenue Services.
The 2014-15 budget calls for $500,000 for road projects, including Hunts Corner Road, Old West Bethel Road and Vernon Street in Albany Township, as well as a $100,000 payment to the capital reserve account.
Proposed service expenditures, including funds for bridge work, snow removal, waste and recycling and cemeteries are $12,800 more than this fiscal year, and the county’s administrative fee, calculated at 5 percent of the budget, is up $15,640.
Overall, expenditures for the unorganized territories are $328,440 more than in 2014.
On Wednesday, Cole said he expected the expenditures included in the budget could be sustained, preventing similar budget increases for the next several years.
Although the county’s budget includes a substantial tax increase for municipal services, the impact may not be as dramatic as it seems, Cole said.
Municipal services are only one part of the assessments levied on property owners. There are also county and state service assessments. In a letter to the Budget Committee, Cole noted that state services account for education and other state functions and is the largest component of the three.
“Yes, it’s an increase, but when it gets merged into whatever else happens … the overall mathematical effect won’t be as dramatic as an overall 32 percent tax increase,” Cole said.
The Legislature is expected to act on the budget for the state’s unorganized territories during its upcoming 2014 session.
pmcguire@sunjournal.com
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