The Bangor School Department’s new budget is $3.7 million more than last year’s, mostly due to increases to staff salaries and benefits and adding new teaching positions, among other expenses.
The Bangor School Committee preliminarily approved the $63.2 million budget during a meeting on Wednesday night. The spending plan, which will support Bangor’s schools from Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2026, is $3.7 million — or 6.2 percent — higher than last year.
The school department doesn’t yet have an estimate of how the new school budget, if given final approval, would influence Bangor residents’ taxes, said Ray Phinney, a spokesperson for the Bangor School Department. This is, in part, because Bangor is in the midst of a citywide revaluation that could change what residents pay in taxes.
Taxpayers also won’t know how the new school budget will change their property tax rate until the city and county finalize their respective budgets. Bangor’s current property tax rate is $18.55 per $1,000 of valuation. This means that a home valued at $300,000 will receive a $5,565 tax bill.
Of the $63.2 million budget, nearly $27 million is allocated to regular instruction, which is roughly $1.6 million more than last year. That boost is primarily due to increases to teacher salaries and benefits.
Together, staff salaries and stipends make up more than $36.7 million of the budget, which is $786,000 more than last year, according to budget documents. The portion of the budget that funds educator benefits, including health insurance and retirement, received a $1.7 million — more than 17 percent — uptick in the new budget.
The $12.3 million special education portion of the budget received a roughly $453,000 bump, which stems from paying tuition to other schools as well as speech and psychological services that are now contracted.
Another $282,000 of the budget increase will go toward four new positions across the school department, including an assistant athletic director for Bangor’s middle schools and a new first grade teacher at Vine Street School.
The $6.7 million facilities maintenance portion of the spending plan, which makes up 10 percent of the school department’s new budget, also received a $570,000 increase over last year. That bump is tied to pay increases, new playground equipment and paving, among other improvements.
Department leadership will next present the proposed school budget to the Bangor City Council before later giving it a second and final approval, according to Phinney.