PHILLIPS - - The selectmen set the mil rate at their Tuesday, Aug. 25 selectmen's meeting and the tax bills are expected to go out this week. Taxpayers will see an increase in taxes this year when the rate increases from 16.3 from last year to 17.8 this year.

According to Town Manager Jim Collins, this is due to a combination of a large jump in county tax and a significant loss in revenue.

With the increased rates, this means that taxpayers will pay $1.50 more for every $1,000 in valuation, a near 10 percent increase.

Collins said that the valuation of the town jumped from $61.3 million last year to $76.25 million this year. This created an increase in the town's share of the county tax which jumped significantly as well.

But the increase in county tax has skyrocketed not only due to the valuation spike, it also jumped because of the change in the county's fiscal year. The county changed its fiscal year from a calendar (Jan. 1 to Dec. 31) year to a July 1-to-June 30 fiscal year.

Phillips was billed for the half-share of the county's fiscal year from Jan. 1 to June 30 of 2009, and also a full year from July 1 to June 30, 2010. The one-year county tax was billed at $71,675 and the additional half-year budget is also due at $37,600 totaling over $109,000.

Due to these reasons and given that the county budget is also up, Phillips taxpayers who spent $58,235 last year is looking at nearly double that this year. The following year, Collins said, Phillips residents should see a benefit because they should be back to just a one-year county share.

Other contributing factors, Collins said, were significant losses in revenue.

The legislature passed a measure to lessen local municipal funding and Phillips experienced an approximate $46,000 loss in state municipal revenue sharing.

"This is how they solved the state budget problems," Collins said. "They just passed it on to us… Did they do a good job with their budget? Yes. Did they help the local municipalities? I don't think so."

The town also saw a $10,000 loss in tree growth tax reimbursement.

Additional revenue woes came in losses in excise taxes. Town official claim that they are down $24,000 in excise tax income. Collins said that this could be because of an impending statewide referendum, and could be much worse the following year if the measure passes.

Collins said that the Maine Municipal Association predicts the losses could exceed $36,000 if the referendum passes. "For us to make that up as a loss means almost a mil in the tax rate," Collins explained.

If passed, some people with vehicles five years old or newer will benefit, Collins explained. "The thing is, is that over 68 percent of the vehicles in the State of Maine are five years old or older. This referendum will not help those people," Collins said. Not only will it not help them, they'll have to make it up in their property taxes because of the loss in excise revenue from those who have newer cars."

"It's going to be tempting to vote for, but in the long run it's going to hurt the local communities in the state."