LISBON — Town councilors Tuesday unanimously passed a $14.6 million municipal budget that is not expected to raise property taxes. Fern Larochelle was absent.
The amount is $1.2 million more than last year’s $13.4 million. However, the impact on taxpayers will go down, according to Finance Director Samantha Bryant.
Town expenses have gone up but the town’s non-property-tax revenue covers more than those increases, she said before the meeting. The town has received more revenue from state revenue sharing, motor vehicle excise taxes and investment income.
When budget talks first started, councilors asked staff not to propose large budget increases because many residents were already managing high costs in other areas of their life and were advocating against a steep municipal budget increase, she said.
The town’s county appropriation for the coming fiscal year is $996,083, which is just over $50,000 more than last year’s $944,694.
The town’s portion of the school budget this year is just under $8.3 million, which is about $500,000 more than last year’s roughly $7.7 million.
There was a brief discussion that mostly centered on getting the town audit report before the municipal budget is approved in coming years.
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