Windham homeowners with a $200,000 home may pay $120 more in property taxes than this fiscal year if the town manager’s preliminary 2017 budget is approved by the Town Council and the Budget Committee. 

Windham Town Manager Tony Plante unveiled his preliminary municipal budget during Tuesday’s council meeting. It calls for a 2.9 percent decrease in expenditures, from $17,247,836 to $16,743,819.

But since Plante is also factoring in a decrease in state revenue sharing, the proposed budget would actually result in an increase in property taxes, should the plan be adopted by the council as is.

According to the manager’s budget, the estimated municipal property tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year is $5.34 per $1,000 of assessed valuation, or 60 cents higher than this year’s municipal rate.

The Regional School Unit 14’s tax rate for Windham has yet to be determined, but if the school and Cumberland County tax rates remain the same, the overall property tax rate would be $15.75 per $1,000, up from $15.15 this fiscal year. 

The council will now spend the next several weeks scrutinizing the budget, with Windham residents getting the final say at annual town meeting in June.

Plante said the town is working to become less reliant on state money to balance the budget, as the amount of municipal revenue sharing has been in flux in recent years.

This is the third fiscal year that the town has worked toward removing municipal revenue sharing from the state from its budget. The town will still receive state money, he said, which will be put toward capital projects or reducing the tax levy. But the town will not attempt to determine the exact amount of municipal revenue sharing until the state budget is set.

Plante said the approach to devising the budget is based on the town’s “interim” strategic plan, which is meant to guide the town until the implementation of a comprehensive master plan in 2017.

“Where most of the (budget) requests come from,” Plante said, “are responses to needs in the community where we’ve identified gaps” between the current and desired level of service.

The town is proposing to add a number of positions to address the gaps, including additional personnel for fire and rescue, public works, police and the planning department staff.

Plante said the town also has plans for a number of capital improvement projects, including reconfiguring the space at the public library to create a single circulation desk, a renovation at the South Windham Fire Station and improvements at Donna Lippman Park off Route 302.

Decreases in expenditures have largely been made through small cuts to line items across departments. As well, the town is negotiating new fuel contracts beginning in July, to “take advantage of lower fuel prices,” said Plante.

Plante said during the budget process the town will review its priorities in terms of expenditures. The initial budget, Plante said, attempts to focus on “what it is we’re here to accomplish” in terms of the town’s strategic plan.