Cape Elizabeth’s proposed municipal budget could mean that some homeowners will see no changes in their tax bills this year, and some others could see their taxes go down.

Town Manager Mike McGovern’s proposed budget sticks to a council-imposed 3.3 percent increase cap, and takes advantage of additional state funding.

McGovern said people would have seen their taxes decrease, but voters overwhelmingly approved the addition to the Pond Cove School and renovations to the high school.

“If it hadn’t been for these projects taxes would have gone down 2.4 percent,” he said.

One new development that has contributed to the tax relief is the new homestead exemption put in place by the state. All homeowners who are full-time residents will now have $13,000 of property value exempted from taxation. Cape Elizabeth has 2,490 properties that are eligible for the exemption.

The state will reimburse towns for half of the money they would have received without the exemption, but municipalities must raise the other half from all taxpayers in order to give money back to those who qualify for the exemption.

Business owners and part-time residents do not qualify and will see their property taxes increase by 4.3 percent in Cape.

The median home valuation in Cape is $251,000, and those taxpayers will see no increase in their taxes, McGovern said. People with homes valued lower will see a decrease in their taxes.

Homeowners whose property is valued above $480,000 will see their property taxes increase from 2 percent (for a home valued at $480,000) to 4.3 percent (for homes valued higher than $1 million).

Other areas of savings include animal control costs, which are down $19,254 because Cape Elizabeth now contracts with South Portland for the service; Regional Waste Systems trash fees, which are down $21,350, and debt service costs are down $77,948 because the town has paid off old bonds.

Health insurance costs are $10,000 less than last year because of position eliminations and a low increase in the health insurance premium. A pool/fitness position, a part-time community television position and the animal control position have been eliminated.

Some areas of increase in the municipal budget are $144,926 to the capital expenses, to a total of $696,000. The capital increase accounts for 56 percent of the total town spending increase.

Capital projects include all infrastructure costs, including $320,000 for roadway and drainage projects, $61,000 for two replacement police cruisers, $56,000 to replace a transfer trailer, and $55,000 for Town Hall and library repairs.

McGovern said the town evaluates infrastructure needs every year and consistently projects $1.1 million in funding needs for capital projects, the majority of which is deferred every year. McGovern said this was a good year to increase capital spending because personnel costs increased only 1.1 percent.

“It gave a good opportunity to look at some deferred infrastructure needs and still stay within the 3.3 percent budget cap,” said McGovern.

Also, retirement costs are increasing $33,400, or 24 percent, due to more employees taking advantage of the opportunity to match contributions into the town’s defined contribution plan. Also, the account was under-funded in the past two years.

Spurwink Avenue will be repaired with a grant from the Portland Area Comprehensive Transportation Committee (PACTS), which has approved funding 85 percent of the project. PACTS has also approved repaving on Shore Road and partial funding for a signal at the intersection of Shore Road and Route 77. The town will pay $52,500.

McGovern also budgeted for $9,100 to pay for the proposed consolidation of 911 call centers for Cape Elizabeth, Scarborough and South Portland. The state is forcing these consolidations and the Maine Public Utilities Commission is reducing the number of 911 call centers in Cumberland County from 14 to five.

Right now, Cape has one person at a time, 24 hours a day, acting as a 911 call receiver and a local dispatcher. After consolidation the dispatcher would stay in Cape but the town would also have to help pay for the new call center, which would likely be in Scarborough or South Portland.

The Cape Elizabeth Recycling Committee is receiving a big increase in funding – $2,000, a 700 percent increase in funding from last year. With these added funds the committee “hopes to increase public awareness of recycling and help reduce Cape Elizabeth’s waste stream by making recycling as user friendly and easy as possible for Cape residents,” the committee wrote in its budget message.