The Town of Bar Harbor is a relatively small community given its year-round population base of approximately 5,000 year-round residents. However, Bar Harbor attracts a large number of visitors. The property taxes, the town's main source of revenue, pays for the community infrastructure and services that support and benefit residents and visitors alike.
Community Infrastructure includes the structures that house community services and operations, including the Town Office, Public Works, Fire and Police Departments, Jesup Library, and others, as well as water and sewer infrastructure (pipes, treatment, etc.).
The daily operations needed to meet the needs of residents, businesses, and visitors are referred to as Community Services. This category includes town administration, code enforcement, road maintenance, waste management, public safety, and many others.
For Bar Harbor, the demand for year-round services, the ongoing need to staff and maintain these facilities and services, the responsibility to consider the annual and long-term costs to townspeople, and the need to look at the feasibility of improvements or expansion over a longer time horizon will be a critical component of the path forward.