WESTBROOK – The Westbrook City Council voted to approve the fiscal year 2014-15 municipal and school budgets Monday, and the next step is the school budget validation referendum on June 10.

Westbrook voters will decide whether to approve the $33,854,745 school budget, which is a $1,686,627, or 5.2 percent, increase from this year’s budget. However, school revenues are also showing a $1.5 million increase.

School officials have said budget increases are coming from automatic hikes in employee salary and benefit costs, as well as required positions needed in the department’s English language learner (ELL), and Special Education programs.

City Councilors Michael Foley and John O’Hara shared concerns in previous council meetings about the increased costs, which Foley called “unsustainable.” Past meetings also featured disagreements between city and school officials over shared services. A council vote in April failed to approve the budget and threatened the timeline required for absentee ballots.

The municipal budget, of $23,400,605, is up $270,621 from this year, but revenue is also up about $185,000.

For the next fiscal year, Westbrook’s property tax rate will remain flat, at $17.20 per $1,000 of valuation. The county portion of the tax rate is up 2 cents, the school portion is up 7 cents, and the municipal portion is down 9 cents.

For this year, the tax rate was reduced by 20 cents, and the prior year the rate remained flat. In City Administrator Jerre Bryant’s memo to the City Council, he states, “Given the many factors impacting spending and revenue for local governments in Maine, three years of level, down, and level tax rates is a tremendous accomplishment for the Westbrook taxpayers.”