Biddeford residents could see mil rate increase

Biddeford residents could see a mil rate increase as city and school officials face a challenging budget year.

Interim City Manager Brian Phinney has proposed a nearly $46.8 million fiscal year 2026 municipal budget, about $2 million more than the current year’s budget.

The School Department has proposed a $49.8 million fiscal year 2026 school budget is a $2.5 million increase from the current year.

The combined budget, if passed, would mean an .81 increase on the mil rate, with a .72 increase from the school budget, a .08 increase from the municipal budget and a .01 increase from county taxes.

Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray said in a presentation to the City Council last month that the school was facing some “unprecedented challenges.” One of these challenges is the significant increase in the city’s valuation. Over a three-year average, the city’s valuation increased $508 million annually, resulting in a decrease in state funding.

Because of the increase in valuation, the state funding formula calculations require the Biddeford school department to raise an additional $1.5 million in local allocations to receive the $13.6 million state subsidy.

“This substantial shift in funding responsibility presents unprecedented challenges for our budget planning process as we work to maintain educational quality while being mindful of taxpayer impact,” said Ray in a memo.

The proposed fiscal year 2026 school department budget includes an additional English Language Learning teacher and educational technicians and increasing two part-time jobs– a STEM position and a special education secretary – to full time. With the JFK school being shut down and classes moved to Biddeford primary, it also calls for a reduction of a nurse, Kindergarten teacher, educational technician and secretary position.

Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray said by sharing services with Saco and Dayton, the school district is projected to see about $608,000 savings in the upcoming annual budget.

“That’s pretty close 30 cents on the mil rate, that we were able to bring in, based on shared services,” said Ray.

On the city side, department heads had recommended five new positions, but Phinney said he is only recommending one new position in his proposal.

The fire department proposed three positions – a deputy fire chief, fire inspector and a part-time administrative person. The assessing Department proposed a field lister, and the recreation department asked for a part-time custodian.

Phinney is recommending a field lister, and not the other proposed new positions.

The city manager’s fiscal year 2026 budget also proposes outsourcing sewer billing, which adds $81,000 in new charges. This number can be reduced by about $24,000 if the Council decides to transition from a monthly billing schedule to a quarterly billing schedule.

The finance department has recommended outsourcing payroll, which would cost $63,000. The city faces proposed penalties of up to $700,000 due to incompliance with IRS reporting, and the proposal was made to help compliance.

Finney said he does not support the outsourcing of payroll, and said he thought implementing proper procedure and reporting guidelines would reduce the possibility of future non-compliance.

The City Council is reviewing the budget proposal over a series of workshops and has targeted May 13 to approve the fiscal year 2026 budget. The school budget will then get a final vote by residents at a June 10 ballot. More information on the budget can be found on the city’s budget page.

Saco Bay News Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.