HALLOWELL — Dozens of residents opposed to the Hallowell City Council’s recently passed budget and large property tax increase are collecting petition signatures asking for the spending plan to head back to the drawing table.

The budget, passed on July 29, raised city property taxes by about 20% — higher than the approximately 16% increase the council expected when it passed the budget, according to Ward 1 Councilor and Finance Committee Chair Kate Dufour.

Clipboards with the new Hallowell petition to rescind a City Council vote adopting a new budget are shown. A group of residents have organized the petition drive in the wake of city taxes increasing by about 20%. Photo courtesy of Sarah McNaughton

Under the Hallowell City Charter, residents can bring a petition to force a council decision to a townwide referendum. To have the petition officially recognized by the city, it would need to be submitted by Wednesday, Aug. 28, with 240 verified signatures from city residents. A townwide election for the referendum vote would need to be held within 60 days of the petition being submitted to the city, unless the city council reverses its decision on its own, per the charter.

The petition states: “We, the Undersigned voters of the City of Hallowell, hereby request the Hallowell City Council nullify the Hallowell City Council’s Vote on Monday, July 29, 2024, the Third Reading of Order r24-02, Adoption of the FY 25 Municipal Expenditure Budget.”

Larry Davis, a former council member who said he would be running for the Ward 5 seat up for election this November, said he was “shocked” that the council approved the budget and tax increase. Soon after, he began organizing an effort to get the council to reconsider its vote.

The petition drive started on Thursday, and by early afternoon Friday, Davis said petition organizers had already collected more than a third of the required 240 signatures.

“People are working feverishly, and I mean feverishly, to get those signatures,” Davis said. “I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to who were shocked — and there are even a lot more who were unknowing — when they got their tax bill.”

Tax bills are calculated based on the city mil rate of $19.90 per $1,000 of assessed property value, a rate that actually decreased from the previous year’s $23.05 per $1,000.

Earlier this year, Dufour said, the city was notified that it was valuing properties in town at 65% of their market-rate value — lower than the minimum of 70% required by state law. The city then readjusted its valuation to be 85% of the market value, a move that increased tax bills.

She also noted the local school district and Kennebec County budgets, which both spent more this year than last and which both take a significant portion of Hallowell’s revenue, affected what the council was able to do. The school budget is voted on by referendum, and the city council also has no control over the county’s budget, but is required to contribute.

All told, the $8.98 million budget impacting city taxes includes a municipal budget of about $3.75 million, up 7%; $3.98 million toward the school system; and $397,000 toward the county.

The council also did not receive property valuations to calculate its tax revenue until the final month of its budgeting process, which complicated the final draft. But, Dufour said, the Finance Committee and City Council did the best they could with the situation they were in and tried to notify the public as well as possible about budget meetings and public hearings.

Dufour said she is open to reconsidering the budget, and that community input over the next several council meetings will be important for deciding the next steps for the council to take — which municipal services to cut and which ones to keep.

“We’re at a point where we’re hearing it’s an unacceptable increase,” she said. “And if that’s the case, what needs to go? What is the appropriate increase? Twenty percent is not, I understand that, but what is the goal?”

The Hallowell City Council’s next meeting is scheduled for Monday at 6 p.m. in the City Hall’s Council Chambers, and organizers said petitions will be available for residents to sign at the meeting. Copies are also available at several businesses downtown, including Berry & Berry Floral, Quality Copy and Heads Up Hair salon.