Lee is set to pay Penobscot County more than $208,000 in taxes this year — a staggering 40% hike from what the town paid in 2025.
The jump is the highest change among any community in the county. East Millinocket, which has the highest overall tax rate in the state, will have the second highest jump at 37%.
They are among the 13 towns that have been slapped with a tax hike of more than 20%. That was how much Penobscot County initially predicted the taxes that communities pay to the county would rise after it approved a $35.3 million budget at the end of last year.
The figures provide the first look at how the county’s swelling budget — which grew by $4 million this year because of rising costs in the Penobscot County Jail — is trickling down to taxpayers. They were included in tax bills obtained by the Bangor Daily News that were sent by Penobscot County to each municipality, and are based on the latest state valuation.
The tax bill sent in March is the first confirmation of how much towns will have to pay this year. The average increase in taxes for the 60 towns in the county was about 16%.
Every year, the state completes new valuations for Penobscot County. The value of the county grew by less than $2 billion, or 10%, this year. The change is similar to the one from 2024 to 2025 and had almost equal effect on every community, including the county’s Unorganized Territory, which saw large tax hikes last year due to a revaluation.
The new valuation allowed the county mill rate to not jump up by much, County Treasurer Glenn Mower said.
Bangor, which pays more than 20% of all of the county’s taxes, saw the largest monetary jump in the amount it will pay the county, a roughly $911,000 growth. Residents will pay the county more than $6 million in total.
The county budget going up by 20% doesn’t equate to the tax rate increasing the same amount because the costs are spread out across every town, Mower said.
Councilors and officials in Bangor, Brewer, Orono and Old Town previously said the larger tax bill will change how their budgets are drafted.
Hampden will pay $260,000 more to the county this year compared with last year, the second-largest change in dollars going to the county.
That money could’ve gone toward town expenses in a time when Hampden is trying to keep its budget slim, said Town Manager Paula Scott.
“It is frustrating when that amount of money might have funded or largely funded a capital expenditure that we need, such as a public works vehicle. Like all towns in the county, we are striving hard to keep our budget tight without impacting our own services too greatly,” Scott said.
The tax rate for the county makes up a portion of each municipality’s taxes, and is added to the town and school budgets. The county’s property tax rate went up six cents to $1.43 per $1,000 in property values.
At that rate, the owner of a property valued at $200,000 would pay $286 in county taxes in 2026, or about $12 more than last year.
This doesn’t necessarily mean people in Penobscot County will see their taxes go up. Some towns may not have to raise their local tax rates if there are changes in their local budgets, Mower said.
“For the municipalities, it all depends on how much the county tax is in proportion to their mill rate,” Mower said.
