Draft Orono budget up 6.27 percent

The Orono Town Council is expected to wrap up its work soon on a proposed fiscal year 2018 budget of $17.3 million.

That budget, which is subject to change following a few more workshops in the next couple weeks, would include $6.6 million for the school appropriation (an increase of 6 percent) $563,000 for the county (up 4.4 percent), and $10.1 million (with $7.8 million of that for operating expenses, $1.1 million for debt service, and $900,000 for capital expenses) for municipal appropriations. At the same time, revenues are forecast to be up by $80,000, which would be an increase of 2 percent, for the next fiscal year.

The draft budget would require a net assessment for the tax commitment of $11.7 million, which would be an increase of $692,000 from the current fiscal year. With the total valuation for Orono currently projected to be flat, that would mean next year’s mill rate would be $26.41 per thousand dollars of valuation – an increase of $1.56, or 6.27 percent. That would mean taxes going up by $156 on a $100,000 property.

A public hearing was held on the budget on Monday night, and workshops at planned for the 15th, 18th, and 22nd. The current plan is for the budget to be adopted by the council on June 26.