From Waldo to Washington, several counties in Maine are grappling with millions of dollars in budget gaps that are likely to drive up property taxes next year.

In several counties, that news has sparked worry and fury from the residents and municipalities that would be on the hook. Property taxes are the primary way counties raise revenue.

The forces behind the increases vary, and they’re not all clear. In Washington County, years of inaccurate planning and reliance on loans left a roughly $11 million debt to remedy. County commissioners earlier this month approved a 2026 budget that will increase tax revenue by about 17.2%.

In Waldo County, officials proposed a budget increase of 36% — up about $4.7 million from this year’s plan — and fielded concerns from town officials who demanded a better explanation of where the money would go and why costs are slated to shoot up so rapidly, the Midcoast Villager reported. County commissioners delayed the vote until next month and said they would revisit the line items, according to Maine Public.

And in Penobscot County, officials say jail costs left a $3.5 million shortfall in this year’s budget and that those costs could keep rising next year, forcing a sharp hike in revenue requirements. County officials held a public hearing Tuesday morning, but still need to finalize their plan before the end of the year.

The increases come as Mainers, like many Americans, feel increased financial pressure from nearly all sides. A recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed November inflation was lower than expected, but economists were quick to point out that the data could be skewed by a record-length government shutdown, and consumers are still feeling pinched.

As budget talks carried on in Washington County, residents previously told the Press Herald they felt overburdened by tax hikes. One man said he he felt like “a tax slave.”

Officials expect that the impact on individual taxpayers could be less severe, since county taxes make up only one portion of a tax bill and increases will be spread differently among dozens of municipalities. Specific changes to homeowners’ bills may not be known until the summer or early fall, when state and most municipal spending plans are finalized.

COUNTY TO COMMUNITY

To get a sense of how county revenues impact local taxes, we looked at Penobscot County.

There, commissioners initially floated increasing tax revenue by nearly 20% (or $5 million), but that figure was shaved down to about 16% by the budget committee. Officials said they hope to complete the last budget draft by Monday evening, teeing up a vote at their final meeting of the year: on New Year’s Eve.

Municipalities are taxed based on how big a portion of the county’s total valuation they represent, based on calculations from Maine Revenue Services that are finalized within the first few months of each calendar year. For example, in 2025, all property in Penobscot County was valued at about $18.3 billion, about $3.8 billion of which was in Bangor. That left Bangor on the hook for just over 20% of the county’s total tax revenue, a pretty typical portion, said Phil Drew, the city’s assessor.

Comparatively, Brewer contributed about 6.4%, Corinna about 1% and Millinocket about 0.6%.

Once the county settles on its budget and breakdown for the year, it sends out warrants, effectively bills, to the municipalities in its jurisdiction. In Penobscot, those usually arrive by the end of March, multiple city and town officials said.

“We just get the warrant of a singular amount to collect,” Drew said.

Between 2021 and 2025, the county’s total tax revenue requirements climbed more than 37%, from roughly $18.3 million to $25.9 million, though individual municipalities have shouldered different portions of that tax burden.

“The impact of the county budget is just so in flux. We’re not sure where they’re going to land,” Drew said. But one thing’s certain. “The impact is: county tax (goes) higher — therefore the mill rate has to go up.”

PARED-DOWN PERCENTS

Property taxes include allotments for the municipality and schools, in addition to the county’s take. Generally, the county’s tax represents the smallest portion of what is charged to residents, local officials said.

County taxes across the state often are between 4% and 11% of a property tax bill, said Andre Cushing, president of the Maine County Commissioners Association and chair of the Penobscot County Commission. He said education usually is the biggest slice, between 48% and 60% on average.

Statewide, spending on education has significantly outpaced inflation in recent decades, with local taxes covering a growing share of the total, according to a Maine Educational Policy Research Institute report released this summer.

In Bangor, roughly 7.3% of property taxes are going to the county this year, Drew, the assessor, said. Most of the rest goes to the city.

So, for example, the owner of a home in the city valued at $300,000 in 2025 would pay approximately $5,310 in property taxes. Of that, about roughly $388 goes to the county. If Bangor’s portion of the county budget stays the same in 2026 (about 20%) but the total amount of money the county needs to collect increases by 16%, as proposed, that would add roughly $62 to this tax bill. In other words, the 16% county budget increase would translate to a 1.2% increase in the homeowner’s bill, without factoring in any changes to the school and city portions.

But tweaks to those school and municipal budgets, as well as changes in property values throughout the county, also influence homeowners’ bills. Those elements of 2026 tax bills will not be set for several more months and will differ from community to community.

In Hampden, which accounts for about 6.5% of the county’s tax revenue, about 9% of property taxes collected this year go to the county, said Town Manager Paula Scott. The local school district gets about 49% and the municipal government gets 42%.

Bangor and Hampden both budget based on the fiscal year, which begins in July — about halfway into the county’s budget cycle, which starts in January. Cushing said that misalignment can add “more pressure” to end-of-year budget deliberations.

About half of Maine counties use calendar years for budgeting. The rest — including Cumberland, Sagadahoc and York — operate on fiscal years, records show.

“I think it’s probably more difficult for them (the county) than it is for us,” said Scott, Hampden’s manager. “By the time we start voting on our budget in May or June … we already have an amount that they’ve set.”

Meanwhile, in Lincoln, about 7% of property taxes go to the county, Tax Collector Tracie York said in an email. About one-third goes to the school and 60% to the town, she said. This year, Lincoln’s contributions make up about 3.5% of the county’s total.

Those breakdowns could change next year, once the local schools and municipal governments determine their own tax revenue needs.