STONINGTON—The specter of budget busting third-party requests reared its head once more at the Nov. 17 Stonington Select Board meeting, as officials debated what, if any, actions could be taken to slow the seemingly inevitable increases in funding non-governmental organizations.

“Ten or fifteen years ago these requests might have amounted to $40,000,” Town Manager Kathleen Billings said. “This year it’s $85,000.”

“I don’t think voters really understand that when they approve these requests, they are voting to raise taxes,” board member Joseph Rackliff agreed.

The discussion arose after Billings informed the board that she had received three funding requests for placement on the 2026 Town Meeting warrant after the town’s October deadline. One was from an organization that had previously received support, while two were new requests which would require to complete a signature collection process to get on to the town meeting warrant.

“All of this stuff doesn’t effect every taxpayer,” board chair Donna Brewer complained. “When does it stop? … They all do good work, but I think it has gotten out of control.”

While the board had the option of adding the articles, they directed Billings to tell three groups that they would need to collect signatures via petition if they wanted to get on the warrant. “We need to be consistent and stick to the rules,” Brewer said.

A nearly identical discussion took place at the Nov. 6 Deer Isle Select Board meeting. Board members there complained that once an organization collected sufficient signatures to get their request on the town meeting warrant for the first time, there was no way to dampen annual increases, making it difficult to hold the line against tax increases. They batted around a number of ideas to hobble what they felt were runaway requests, including requiring signatures every year, providing more context in the warrant articles around the increase, or a recommended amount from the board. But no action has been taken yet.

Billings said the hand-wringing wasn’t limited to the island—she had just returned from a series of meetings in Augusta and reported that the impact of third-party requests on municipal budgets is a common refrain throughout Maine. “Everyone is struggling to figure out how not to add greater burdens on the property tax,” she reported. “How do you make the pie bigger” without making home ownership unaffordable?

Like Brewer, most select board members said they didn’t object to the work most requestors engaged in, such as workforce training, literacy, affordable healthcare and hunger prevention. But they pointed out that the town already supports nonprofits in the form of exemptions from property taxes.

Select board member Travis Fifield asked if the town could provide more context on referendum questions. “For instance, could we say that the town of Stonington already gives this organization $5,000 in property tax exemptions?”

Billings said while that might be feasible on warrant articles that are decided at town meeting, most requests are voted on by secret ballot at the referendum prior to town meeting. To provide the kind of context Fifield suggested, Billings said the town would have to include it in a “referendum primer” or in handouts available at an information table just outside the polling place.

Linda Nelson, Stonington’s economic and community development director, is also a consultant to nonprofits and even ran the Stonington Opera House. She says that nonprofits are treading into dangerous territory when they add annual requests to the tax break they already get from municipalities.

“Nonprofits that are double-dipping aren’t really paying attention to what local taxpayers need,” she said, pointing out that 7.7percent of Stonington’s property is owned by tax exempt organizations.

Billings is on the board of HomePort, a not-for-profit organization that grew out of the former Island Nursing Home and is converting that facility into affordable housing. “We would have to pay about $13,000 at the current rate,” she said. “We’ve already decided that we’re not going to ask (the Town of Deer Isle) for any money. We are also going to try and pay those taxes, and if we can’t pay the full amount it will be a lot more than a payment in lieu of taxes. We’ve got to pay our share and we have to plan for it.”

She said she wished more organizations adopted that philosophy.

“Even if you’re a nonprofit, you still need the roads plowed and maintained,” Brewer agreed.

Fifield said that he wished supporters of nonprofits would donate rather than seek taxpayer support. “These people are always free to donate to these organizations,” he said. “And they may get an income tax deduction if they do.”