FARMINGTON — The Select Board unanimously voted last week to recommend a $16.6 million budget for voters to consider at the annual town meeting May 11.
The proposal totals $16,580,989.
With an estimated $3.64 million in revenue, the amount to be raised through taxation would be $12,935,690, a 5.26 percent increase over the net appropriations approved for the 2025 budget.
To raise that $12.9 million, officials project a property tax rate of $12.10 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The 2025 tax rate was $10.50, but town officials used $1.3 million from the undesignated fund after discovering an error that had set the rate too low.
Without that one‑time funding, the rate would have been $11.70 — 40 cents less than the projected rate for the coming year.
Farmington is now operating on a six-month budget approved at last month’s town meeting. The change is meant to move the town from a budget that follows the calendar year to one that follows the fiscal year used by the state, county and school systems. The six-month plan was projected to require a tax rate of $5.49.
That budget included a cost-of-living adjustment of 45 cents to keep pace with the state’s minimum wage increase. The proposed 2026-27 budget does not include an additional adjustment. Town officials say they intend to award future increases July 1.
The proposed school and county assessments are the largest cost drivers in the recommended budget. Municipal spending accounts for 45.1 percent of the total, with 44.2 percent going to Regional School Unit 9 and 10.7 percent to Franklin County.
The Regional School Unit 9 board of directors is recommending a budget that would generate a $5.72 million assessment for Farmington. That is an increase of 3.8 percent from the 2025-26 fiscal year, or 6.2 percent from the 2025 calendar year.
The county budget process is still underway, and Farmington is using a $1.38 million assessment as a placeholder. That figure would be 21 percent higher than the 2025 calendar year assessment.
Under the Select Board’s recommendation, municipal expenditures would rise 1.7 percent compared with the 2025 budget.
Increases on the municipal side of the budget include higher software and utility costs and more funding to cover volatile motor and heating fuel prices.
At last week’s meeting, the board voted to add $5,000 to the town’s legal reserve. Officials said the increase reflects recent spending from that account as the town has dealt with two property valuation issues this year.
The town will continue its practice of separating townwide fixed assessments, including payroll taxes, retirement, insurance, telecommunications and software costs, and placing them in their own cost center.
