The Mill Rate

Most bugets in the State of Maine run from July 1 to June 30 of each year, this includes the state, county and schools. However some towns run a different calendar, such as Clifton. We run Feb 1 to Jan 30 of each year. We approve our budgets at the March Town Meeting. Do you see a problem yet? Lets see the assessor's agent doesn't have the true list; the state budget is not approved for revnune sharing; the school is just starting to think about its budget and grants are not in cycle. So we have an approved budget, now what. Well here we are a few months into the town budget and things are starting to crumble. Excise income is down, as folks aren't buying new cars, the state is going to cut road revnune sharing, the county tax went up higher than we thought, the school share is going up 9 PERCENT over last year, homestead exemption and tree growth returns look like they are going to get reduced, grants are down and the assessor agent is getting ready to set a mill rate. The current mill rate is about $10 a thousand....you better hold on because I see a bad storm brewing. I am still trying to figure out the school, glad Rusty has a blog in Eddington that covers most of the events - its called keeping them honest.