By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

CASCO— People who own property in Casco probably noticed that their tax bill was slightly higher than last year’s bill.

The tax rate for the town of Casco increased from $15.40 to $15.60 for the 2020-21 fiscal year budget. Casco’s new tax rate is $15.60, town officials said.

In August, the town typically sets the tax rate and then the property-tax bills are mailed off.

“The tax bills for the new fiscal year have gone out. I’m sure that many people have already received them,” according to Courtney O’Donnell who was still acting town manager on Sept. 1.

“I also wanted to talk a little bit about the mil rate,” O’Donnell said during the manager’s report earlier this month.  “Of course, you know when we went through the budget process, there were multiple concerns over making sure that the budget stayed as flat as possible while recognizing necessary increases. But it is important to keep in mind that the mil rate is also made up of the county and school budgets as well as municipal budget.”

The town needed to increase the overlay; and those overlay pays for the tax abatements, she said.

“For the last two years, the mil rate was $15.40 per mil, per thousandths. Then, this year, the mil rate will be going up slightly to $15.60 (per thousandths), or a 20 cent increase,” O’Donnell said.

The 20-cent increase would mean that a piece of property valued at $200,000 would see a $40 increase in the tax bill. 

“Overall, the increase was pretty minimal,” O’Donnell said, giving credit to those involved in School Administrative District (SAD) 61’s budget-making process. “It was helped along by the school reducing their budget there in the end. We kept track of revenue sharing to make sure we didn’t overshoot those numbers. There is a fair amount of consequences from Covid as far as the economy goes.”