BELFAST - The Waldo County Commissioners last week approved the 2014 budget and set a mil rate of $1.72 (per $1,000 of property value). The amount is up slightly from last year’s $1.70, but due to changes in state valuation, many towns will pay less toward county government operations this year.

Overall, the $7.5 million budget is down $157,000 from last year, and $197,000 under the state’s L.D. 1 tax cap — a target figure intended to limit the annual growth of local government.

The $4.8 million portion of the budget controlled by the county commissioners saw a decrease of 2.49 percent, taking into account an amount set aside for contingencies. The remainder of the budget is a fixed payment to the state corrections system. 

William Shorey, chairman of the County Commission, attributed much of the savings to the self-funded health insurance pool the commissioners started three years ago.

“Probably everybody in America has seen their insurance costs go up for the past three years,” he said. “For three years continually, we’ve seen ours go down.” 

Shorey said the savings total around a $250,000 over three years. The total cost, he said, dropped by $100,000 this year to slightly under $800,000.

“You probably can’t find any county in the state where their insurance has gone down a quarter million over three years,” he said. “But you can probably find plenty that have gone up 30-percent.”

14 of the 26 municipalities in Waldo County had their valuations decreased by the state this year. The total tax obligation for each town changes accordingly.

This is important because the totals calculated by the county factor into local property tax bills, which are based not on state valuations, but on the sometimes very different calculations of town and city assessors. On balance property owners in towns that increased in value, according to the state, should expect to pay more toward county government this year.

“County government is kind of straightforward,” Shorey said. “If you had a 4-percent decrease in your budget, probably everybody could get a decrease, but when the state changes the value of the towns there’s nothing we can do about that.”

Municipalities that will see a decrease in the amount they pay toward county government in 2014 due to changes in state valuations tended to fall near the coast:

Belfast  -3.3 percent
Belmont -0.3 percent
Brooks -1.6 percent
Freedom -1.6 percent 
Islesboro -6.8 percent
Lincolnville -0.7 percent  
Morrill -2.0 percent 
Palermo -2.9 percent 
Searsmont -5.9 percent 
Searsport -3.7 percent
Stockton Springs -0.6 percent 
Swanville -0.9 percent 
Waldo -0.5 percent 
Winterport -0.5 percent 

Inland towns of Western Waldo County made up the majority of those that will pay more toward county government based on new state valuation figures:

Burnham +0.2 percent 
Frankfort +0.5 percent
Jackson +1.4 percent
Knox +2.3 percent
Liberty +0.8 percent 
Monroe +0.4 percent 
Montville +0.1 percent
Northport +0.5 percent 
Prospect +3.0 percent 
Thorndike +1.8 percent
Troy +2.1 percent 
Unity +2.1 percent 

Ethan Andrews can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com