LEWISTON, Maine— Residents packed Lewiston City Hall chambers Tuesday night as public frustration over the city’s long-awaited property revaluation collided with a proposed school budget that would increase spending by 8 percent.
Before the meeting, residents held a rally outside City Hall, where anger over the recent revaluation and the threat of higher tax bills spilled into the public square. Inside the council chambers, many residents used public comment to raise concerns about the impact of new property assessments, municipal spending, and the growing burden on homeowners.
The revaluation, Lewiston’s first citywide reassessment in nearly 40 years, has sparked significant backlash after many homeowners received notices showing steep increases in assessed values. Some residents have reported assessments that doubled or tripled, creating fear that even with a delayed implementation, taxpayers could soon face a crushing increase.
In response to the public outcry, city officials announced last week that the new property assessments will not be used for this year’s tax bills. Instead, the city will continue using Fiscal Year 2026 assessed values while delaying implementation of the new values by one year.
Residents still have until May 15 to schedule informal hearings with Tyler Technologies to challenge their new valuations, though city officials have discussed the possibility of extending that deadline.
The tension over revaluation comes as the city is also weighing major budget pressures.
On Tuesday night, the City Council voted 6-1 to send the proposed $129.71 million Lewiston school budget to voters. The budget validation referendum will be held Tuesday, May 12.
If approved by voters, the school budget would represent an 8 percent spending increase. The school portion of the property tax rate is expected to rise by roughly 46 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.
The proposed school budget includes the elimination of approximately 26 positions, reduced from an earlier proposal of about 30 cuts, as officials seek to limit the impact on taxpayers while still covering rising costs.
The cuts include social-emotional learning teachers, math and literacy coaches, technology specialists, education technicians, administrative staff, and other active or vacant positions. Proposals have also included cutting a certified librarian at the high school, a move that has drawn criticism from school staff concerned about the loss of research and technology support for students.
The school budget had previously been approved by the School Committee and now heads to voters for final approval or rejection.
The debate comes as Lewiston officials face broader budget challenges. City leaders have been reviewing ways to reduce municipal spending after concerns were raised about the combined impact of the revaluation, school spending, and municipal tax increases.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2027 tax levy has been estimated at more than 8 percent higher than the previous year’s tax burden. Councilors have also discussed cutting millions from the municipal budget, with possible reductions including frozen positions, staffing cuts, and changes to city vehicle policies.
For residents who filled City Hall on Tuesday, the message was clear: many do not believe Lewiston taxpayers can absorb another major increase.
The school budget referendum will be held Tuesday, May 12. The deadline to request an informal review of new property assessments is currently May 15. The city’s new fiscal year begins June 1.
Fiscal logic has gone down the drain in the dirty Lew.
You get what you vote for. Enjoy lewiston. enjoy.
The City Council will make it sound like there is no room for cuts to the budget. How about starting with DEI positions, generous welfare programs, and expanding homeless support. We need these “vital” programs? Well, we’ve tried that again and again, how’s it working out? Very soon you will hear the City Council say the public is looking for “draconian” spending cuts. How about fixing our roads, improving our infrastructure, making it easier to do business in Lewiston? The working men and women are the lifeblood of the community, liberal politicians have become takers who suck money from producers and our retired citizens and kill prosperity for all.
That sounds like an awful lot of money for kids who don’t learn to read or write .
it’s not just Lewiston.
My property taxes have DOUBLED from what they were just two years ago and we don’t even have a fire department. We do have a lot of people making money off the town, though….
First of all, ” you get what you vote for …etc.etc.” comments are ignorant; there are plenty of people who didn’t vote for idiot dems but still have to live with their ridiculous, bullsh*t policies and budgets. But mostly I wanted to say that real estate re-evaluations (resulting in higher taxes) have been happening ALL OVER THE STATE. Our taxes have gone up big time, sure many others could say the same. Why do people think that their town is the only town suffering insane tax inxreases? Just genuinely curious? Which leads me to my last point that Mainers NEED to vote Republican in this next election or this state is straight up screwed!…well, it already is…but…maybe there is hope…these tax increases are a DIRECT RESULT of liberal policies of overspending and creating a welfare state of dependency on the goverment, funded by those who work hard to take care of those who don’t or don’t have to. It’s completely socialist/communist (different names but just two means to the same end) bullsh*t.
If a couple hundred withheld paying their property taxes for a year or 2…..