York County approves $21.5M tax commitment: See what each town will pay

ALFRED, Maine — York County Commissioners approved the tax commitment of $21.5 million at their July 10 meeting, meaning the county’s 29 municipalities will soon receive their tax bills for fiscal year 2025 – which began July 1 – in their mailboxes.

The taxes collected from the municipalities represent the lion’s share of the annual county budget, which is $25.1 million. Taxes help fund county departments, from the registries of probate and deeds to the sheriff’s office – which includes the jail, patrol and civil process. It also funds the district attorney’s office, emergency management agency, finance office, administration, IT, facilities and more.

The remaining budget comes from county revenues for services like deed recording fees, other fees, grants, and undesignated funds.

County taxes are due from the municipalities on Sept 1; interest of 8.5% for unpaid taxes will begin after Oct. 31.

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The county budget is up 7.38% from a year ago. The amount to be raised by taxes to the county’s 29 municipalities is up 9.6%, or $1.8 million. Commissioners put the increase down to some revenue streams coming in a bit less than projected, and inflation, which has meant increased costs for goods and services. County officials noted the state also has increased valuations of most municipalities.

The annual budget process begins with department heads submitting requests to the administration, which crafts a budget. The budget document is scrutinized and voted on by county commissioners. From there, it is passed to the separate York County Budget Committee, made up of elected municipal officials and members of the public from across the county. After the Budget Committee approves a budget, it is returned to the commissioners. The commissioners can then set the tax commitment or suggest that the Budget Committee reconvene to discuss potential changes.

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The town of York will pay the most in county taxes – about $2.7 million this year, followed by Wells, at $2.1 million. Cornish is poised to pay the least at $91,000, with Parsonsfield next at $132,600. Biddeford, Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, Kittery, Old Orchard Beach and Saco all pay more than $1 million each, with Sanford paying $967,000 and Ogunquit $849,000. About 17 small towns pay varying amounts, from $538,000 in Waterboro to $196,000 in Alfred.

A sampling of three of the larger municipalities and three smaller ones shows the percentage of each municipality’s budget that went to pay county taxes in the previous fiscal year as shown on tax bills from those municipalities: in Wells, the county tax portion of a property tax bill was 4.86% last year; Biddeford, 2.67%; Sanford, 2.44%; Alfred, 2.80%, Arundel, 2.85%, and Parsonsfield, 2.67%.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: York County approves $21.5M tax commitment: See what each town will pay