BRUNSWICK — Brunswick’s estimated property tax increase of 4.97% was reduced to 4.47% Monday night after town councilors voted to allocate $215,000 to property tax relief. On a $200,000 home, this would mean a property tax bill of about $3,954 instead of $3,972. 

The money comes from an extra $350,000 the town received through a bump in revenue sharing (sales tax money the state redistributes to communities as property tax relief),  after Gov. Janet Mills signed into law the state’s $8 billion biennial budget, increasing revenue sharing from about 2% to 3%. 

Of the remaining funds, $100,000 will go to the town’s road paving budget, and $35,000 will go to a contingency fund that can be used in future years to help offset tax hikes. 

The additional $100,000 in the budget will pave a half-mile of road. The town is supposed to pave about 11 miles of road per year, but according to Council Chairman John Perreault, that has never happened. Instead, Brunswick typically only has funding to pave and resurface about half that. This year, the budget for paving and resurfacing increased from about $750,000 to $1 million.

Town Manager John Eldridge initially recommended the council use $200,000 for tax relief, and $100,000 for paving and road resurfacing, bringing the town-wide paving budget up to $1.1 million. The remaining $50,000 would go into the contingency fund. 

Instead, councilors decided to increase the money to offset taxes by $15,000 in order to reduce the property taxes by an even half of a percent. They decided to take that money out of the contingency fund instead of from the paving budget, since, as councilor Kathy Wilson said, Brunswick’s roads are “no good” and could use “every penny.” 

If councilors decided to put the entire $350,000 toward tax reduction, taxes would have increased 4.22% from last year, and the property tax rate would increase from $18.92 to $19.72 per $1,000 of valuation, meaning a tax bill of $3,944 for a home valued at $200,000.

There was a suggested amendment to give $10,000 or $20,000 to the library, which Councilor James Mason called a “jewel of the town.” Ultimately, Perreault said he did not want to revisit budget allocations for individual departments and the amendment failed. 

hlaclaire@timesrecord.com