BUCKSPORT — After worrying earlier this year that property taxes might climb by more than 9 percent, councilors gave final approval to a budget Thursday night that will instead result in a 3.5 percent increase.

The town’s tax rate will go from $12.52 per $1,000 in valuation to $12.94. For a homeowner with a property valued at $150,000, that means the tax bill will go from $1,878 to $1,941, an increase of $63.

Although there are numerous factors that contribute to the tax rate — the valuation of all properties in town and various reimbursements from the state, for example, in addition to municipal and education costs — the increase in the tax rate this year brought the council back to a common theme: the school budget.

Town officials, who have prided themselves on bringing in a municipal budget smaller than the previous year’s spending plan, said the 42-cent increase in the tax rate this year is a direct result of the increase in Bucksport’s share of the Regional School Unit 25 (RSU 25) budget, which went up $314,490 this year.

Councilor Byron Vinton reiterated his frustration that the council no longer has any direct control over the school budget — “There’s nothing we can do about it,” he said — but Mayor David Keene noted the RSU had lost federal funding and said the school board had likely done the best it could under the circumstances.

RSU 25 Superintendent Jim Boothby said he understood the council’s concern with the school budget.

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