FARMINGTON — The Select Board has approved a tax commitment that raises the rate 13 percent for the new fiscal year, with the first of two payments due in early November.
The decision came Tuesday as the board set the property tax rate and finalized related allocations.
The board approved adding $75,000 to the Downtown Tax Increment Financing District’s account and a $50,000 overlay.
Along with the municipal, school and county budgets approved earlier this year for 2026‑27, that will result in a property tax rate, also called the mill rate, of $12.07 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
That represents a mill rate increase of $1.57 compared with the town’s last full‑year budget in 2025.
However, that $10.50 rate was too low to support the town’s budget because of an error relating to a homestead exemption number. Residents approved using $1.3 million in one‑time funding to cover the difference. Without that money, the rate would have been $11.70 in 2025; this year’s increase would therefore have been 37 cents, or 3 percent.
The new rate would result in a $300,000 property being charged $3,621, or two tax bills of $1,810.50 each.
Tax payments are due to the town at least 45 days after Tuesday’s commitment, setting Nov. 9 as the first due date. The second payment is due in early May.
The tax increment financing, or TIF, district account supports improvements near the downtown, with a committee providing the board with project recommendations. Recent expenditures from the account, which according to the most recently completed audit contains $261,867, include paying half the cost of the Independence Day fireworks display, purchasing seasonal banners and supporting a multiuse bridge over the Sandy River.
The board did not add to the TIF account last year. The account receives about $100,000 in a typical year.
Members of the Downtown TIF Advisory Committee said at Tuesday’s meeting that there may be a potential project involving the creation of more parking along Prescott Street.
Board and committee members said it was also valuable to have funds available for opportunities that arise unexpectedly, such as the bridge project.
“That’s why we need the TIF,” Scott Landry Jr., a member of the Select Board, said. “When we have a special chance to do something, it doesn’t take a lot of heavy lifting to get there.”
Another TIF‑related project that has been discussed for years is adding a public bathroom near downtown.
Towns always set aside some extra funding as a hedge against tax abatements. This is known as an overlay.
Farmington typically spends between $30,000 and $50,000 in abatements in a typical year. Last year, when the town conducted its first revaluation in two decades, Town Manager Erica LaCroix said Farmington paid out more than $100,000 in abatements.
The board discussed a number of options presented by Town Assessor Frank Xu.
Board members Dennis O’Neil and Randall Gauvin supported allocating $50,000 to the TIF and $50,000 to overlay, but that was opposed by Landry and Vice Chairman Richard Morton, who wanted to see more put toward the TIF.
With Chair Matthew Smith absent, the 2‑2 vote failed. Morton and Landry then moved $75,000 for the TIF and $50,000 for overlay, which all four members supported.
The board also heard a plan to place banners celebrating the military service of Farmington residents along High Street next year. The Hometown Heroes program is expected to be modeled after a regional veterans banner effort in Boothbay and Boothbay Harbor that has proven successful, organizers told the board.
“It’s a very popular program,” Amanda Bean said. “It has the potential to grow very quickly.”
Family and friends will be able to buy a banner for $220 in recognition of a loved one’s military service, as long as there’s a connection to Farmington.
The banners will be displayed on brackets — included in the price — that will be installed on utility poles along High Street.
Applications are expected to be submitted by the end of December.
Banners honoring those who are missing, were killed in action or were prisoners of war would be free to families, funded through the organizers’ fundraising efforts.
Bean said Boothbay began with about 70 banners five years ago and now has roughly 700 displayed across more than 14 miles of road.
While local organizers intend to start on High Street, banners could expand to other streets if interest grows.
The town’s commitment would be to have the Public Works Department install the banners, ideally before Memorial Day, and remove them in November after Veterans Day to protect them through winter.
LaCroix said she was excited about the project, noting she had looked into pursuing it earlier.
She suggested consulting the Public Works Department to ensure there would be adequate time to install and remove the banners.
She also noted that the town puts out American flags for Memorial Day and suggested alternating poles with flags and banners.
The board unanimously approved supporting the project.
Board members also unanimously approved funding a contracted part‑time position in the assessor’s office. The office has already been benefiting from extra help through an outside contractor, but the town now plans to hire that individual as an in‑house contractor through the end of the fiscal year.
Between the revaluation and simply catching up after years without an in‑house assessor, town officials said the additional help was long overdue.
The cost of the part‑time help — from Sept. 28 through June 30 — would be about $20,000. LaCroix said the assessing office’s needs beyond that would be considered during the next budget cycle.
