Disclaimer: The views I express here are my own and should NOT be construed as speaking for the City of Bangor or the City Council of Bangor.
Click here to view the meeting agenda.
Economic Development & Planning: A Lot on the Plate
The Director of Community & Economic Development led off with an overview of her department, which covers planning, business development, and code enforcement.
Land Development Code Rewrite: The big planning project this year is a complete rewrite of Bangor’s land development code, following up on the comprehensive plan. Expect lots of public workshops and council sessions on zoning drafts in the coming fiscal year.
Climate Action Plan: The planning division is also managing climate action plan implementation, including pursuing grants related to that work.
Bangor Center Kitchen: A major push this year on the business development side is the Bangor Center Kitchen project, alongside continued work on a business retention plan.
Mall Redevelopment: The budget includes a placeholder for city involvement in the mall redevelopment, even though there’s no confirmed buyer yet. The city wants to be ready to participate if and when something moves.
New Positions Requested — Here’s the List
The department is requesting several new hires. Some are funded in the proposed budget; others are flagged as unfunded program requests still up for council debate.
Urban Development Officer — A new position to handle downtown management, tourism, cultural commission support, parking advisory, arts coordination, and “livable communities” work. The Director noted she currently does much of this herself, which pulls her away from bigger-picture projects like the mall and major housing developments. City Manager Lear backed this up, pointing out that private developers move fast and the city needs someone whose full-time job is responding to opportunities. One councilor drew a comparison to Boston’s post-pandemic “nightlife manager” hire, suggesting this person could also focus on reviving Bangor’s evening economy downtown.
Housing Rehab Coordinator — A position that would be split 50/50 between block grant funds and the code office. This role would manage housing rehab inspections, short-term rental inspections, affordable housing inspections, and the existing housing rehab program (which has been popular and successful).
Code Enforcement Inspector — Bringing back a position that went unfilled two fiscal years ago and wasn’t funded last year either. Multiple councilors voiced strong support, with one saying it would “pay for itself in about four and a half seconds.” The argument: code enforcement is currently reactive (complaint-driven), which creates a perception of unfairness — people who follow the rules feel penalized while code violators fly under the radar. More capacity means more proactive enforcement.
Emergency Management Director — Requested but not funded in the current proposal. Bangor’s fire chief currently serves as emergency manager as a collateral duty, leaving little bandwidth for actual emergency management work. The city manager noted that Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Waterville, and Augusta all have dedicated emergency managers. However, the city wants to explore cost-sharing with the county and available grant funding before committing to full city funding for the role.
Housing Fund: $2 Million Proposal
There is a request for a $2 million capital housing fund — $1 million more for the same proposal the council passed on last year. The fund would allow the city to invest in private housing projects through grants or loans, covering things like land acquisition or permitting costs for developers who can’t quite make the numbers work. There’s no specific project in the pipeline yet; the $2 million figure is a starting point for the conversation.
A couple of councilors asked about tying this to the federal Section 108 loan program (a HUD tool the city has used in the past), which could potentially reduce how much the city needs to put in from its own pocket. The housing committee being formed was also mentioned — but it’s clear the city shouldn’t just wait around for that committee to get organized before acting on housing.
Quality Housing Provider Program: Continuing ARPA Success
The city used ARPA funds to run a program helping market-rate landlords (who can’t access CDBG block grant money) pay for things like sprinkler systems and heat pumps. Landlords gave good feedback. The proposal is to continue the program with city funds now that ARPA money is gone.
Digitizing Planning Files
A request to start scanning the city’s old paper planning files — currently stacked in the basement and on the third floor of city hall. One councilor asked for a staff-time analysis to quantify how much time is currently wasted hunting through paper records, to help make the case for the investment.
Parking: The Barnacle is Working
The city’s parking update was brief but positive. The “Barnacle” — the bright yellow windshield-immobilizing device for chronic parking scofflaws — has been deployed fewer than 10 times so far, and that low number is the point. Its existence (and the press coverage around its launch) appears to be enough to change behavior.
The city now has parking technology platforms in place and is focused on analyzing the data to understand turnover patterns and make smarter enforcement decisions. The parking advisory committee is also in better shape than it’s been in years, partly because a rule change means it no longer requires a city councilor to chair meetings — previously, if the councilor chair couldn’t make it, the whole meeting had to be cancelled.
Arts & Culture Commission: Flat Budget, Bigger Ambitions
The Cultural Commission’s base ask is level-funded at $22,500 — the same as it’s been since the commission was founded roughly 20 years ago. However, the commission is requesting additional funding through the TIF (Tax Increment Financing) fund, which became eligible for arts and culture investments after a state statute change about a year and a half ago.
What they’re asking for through the TIF:
- A cultural asset strategic plan — a long-overdue roadmap for public art investments across the city, similar to how the city does economic development strategy.
- An increase of $20,000 in the grant program (split into two $10,000 rounds per year), because more organizations are applying and the current grant amounts are too small to make a real difference.
One wrinkle: because the commission operates under the city umbrella with a $22,500 budget, it’s ineligible for many outside grants. Federal arts funding has also been cut significantly, making competition for private grants much stiffer. Several councilors expressed strong support for increasing arts investment.
The Big Financial Picture: Fund Balance & Tax Impact
City Manager Lear shared an important overview of the city’s finances that’s worth understanding before the final budget vote.
The city has a healthy fund balance. At the end of FY25, the unassigned fund balance came in around $25 million — higher than expected, largely because about $9 million lapsed due to unfilled staff vacancies. The proposed budget uses some of that balance, leaving nearly $19 million in reserve.
The city’s policy targets $11–22 million in reserve, with the sweet spot around $16 million. That means there’s roughly $2–3 million in excess fund balance that could be used either to reduce the tax burden or fund new programs — or both.
The tax increase is real. The proposed budget would mean an average increase of about $816 per taxpayer. At least one councilor said she’s already hearing from constituents who are worried about it and strongly advocated for using the excess fund balance to offset the tax rate.
New positions are budgeted at 100%, but reality is different. Lear noted that if positions are approved July 1, they probably won’t be filled for three to six months. The city could budget those positions at partial-year cost (say, eight months) to avoid collecting taxes it won’t need this year — though that means the full cost hits harder in future budgets once those seats are filled with actual people.
Employee pay is a retention issue. One councilor raised the broader problem of the city struggling to compete with private-sector wages, leading to vacancies and constant rehiring. The budget includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment, but Lear noted the federal COLA last year was 4.7%, suggesting Bangor may have fallen behind. She said she’d look at the historical data.
Renters could be caught in the middle. I raised concern about the impact of the property tax increase on renters — existing tax relief programs help property owners, but costs get passed through to tenants, often with a markup. I asked what tools the city has to help prevent displacement. No clear answer yet, but it’s on the table.
What Comes Next
The council has at least one more budget workshop focused on TIF funding, where the Cultural Commission will return with its additional requests. The city manager mentioned upcoming memos on the cost of delayed tax payment processing and a meeting with the county administrator to discuss possible cost-sharing on services. The full budget process will continue through the spring with final votes to follow.
