SANFORD –– Sanford city councilors are working on trimming a proposed 2027 budget, with one councilor expressing a goal to cap any increases to the tax rate to 5%.

The council is slated to have another public work session on the budget Tuesday at 5 p.m. 

The council discussed the proposed budget for the first time at a recent work session on March 3. 

Right now, the city’s mil rate is $17.10, meaning the owner of a home assessed at $300,000 would pay just over $5,000 per year in property taxes. An increase of 5% would mean that homeowner would pay at least an additional $250 per year. 

The budget remains a work in progress, but an early draft on March 3 showed the school portion of the budget alone described an increase of net taxation of 13.9%. On the municipal side, the draft shared with the council on March 3 showed a tax increase of more than 3.8%. 

The presentation did not combine both budgets to show the combined final increase, and officials with the city manager and school department did not respond to a request for comment.

However, City Councilor Ayn Hanselmann said at the March 3 workshop that she wanted to see the school budget pared to a 10% increase, and the municipal increase cut to under 2%. That, she said, would make for a net increase, between both sides, of 5% to the tax rate.

City officials expect to hold the final budget review on March 24.