MAY 14, 2026
BERLIN • NORTH WORCESTER COUNTY• OCEAN PINES
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Berlin repeats tax rate Council unanimously votes against slight increase
TARA FISCHER/BAYSIDE GAZETTE
DONATION The OC/Berlin Rotary Club donated playtime products to Showell Elementary School this week to benefit the facility’s youngest learners. See story on page 10.
Council balances budget again Town officials reinstitute cuts after mayor discards council’s earlier efforts By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (May 14, 2026) To balance the Town of Berlin’s fiscal year 2027 general fund budget — a spending plan that had been facing a $280,000 shortfall this week — the Town Coun-
cil on Monday axed the proposal to replace an old public works truck and postponed a street paving project. Despite the Berlin Town Council’s successful effort last month to reduce a projected $400,000 general budget shortfall to $48,000, a revised spending plan was back on the agenda at the town’s meeting Monday night, with an anticipated deficit of $280,000. In April, the council had whittled
away at proposed expenditures to balance the budget without raising the property tax rate. At that time, the council members eliminated $245,000 in spending from the public works department, $18,000 from a proposed half-a-percent cost-of-living increase for town staff, $45,000 from a small truck for economic development, $20,000 for a new playground climber, $11,900 for See TOWN Page 3
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By Tara Fischer Staff Writer (May 14, 2026) The Berlin Town Council voted this week to maintain its current tax rate of 0.8275 per $100 of assessed value for fiscal year 2027, despite push from town leaders and staff to consider a modest increase of a penny and a quarter of a penny. Following a public hearing Monday night on the proposed real property tax rate for FY27, the Berlin Town Council voted unanimously to reject a fee hike. The FY27 rate was proposed at 0.84 cents of $100 of assessed value, or an increase of a penny and a quarter of a penny over the current rate of 0.8275 cents per $100 of assessed value. Had the council voted for the change to 0.84, the municipality would have generated $5.3 million in revenue for the town, compared to $5.25 million projected at the current, now-FY27-approved rate of 0.8275. For a $500,000 home, the new rate would have cost residents an extra $5 per month, or $60 per year. While Berlin Mayor Zack Tyndall and Berlin Finance Director Natalie Saleh advocated for the adjusted real property tax rate, the council maintained that it would not support an increase, citing tight financial times and rising costs residents are facing See STREET Page 7
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