BANGOR – The City Council will begin budget workshops next week, looking to trim their share of a $67.4 million city and school budget expected to increase the tax rate by 3.2 percent.

“Clearly this is going to be a challenging year,” City Manager Edward Barrett said Thursday.

The first workshop will begin at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, at City Hall. At the meeting, the council is expected to consider the budgets for the engineering, planning, code enforcement, waterfront and public works divisions.

Next week’s second workshop will also be held at City Hall, beginning at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 25. At that meeting, the council will discuss its budget for economic development as well as the budgets for Bass Park and the Bangor International Airport.

The 2002-03 budget, up $3.2 million from the previous fiscal year, is likely to undergo several changes before its eventual adoption sometime in early June, the beginning of the city’s fiscal year.

Under the current budget proposal, city expenses will rise 4.3 percent to $34.2 million, and school expenses will rise 5.8 percent to $33.2 million.

County expenses would rise from $1.5 million to $1.7 million.

Under the proposed budget, the city’s tax rate would jump from $23.75 to $24.52 per $1,000 in property valuation. The increase translates into a $77 jump on next year’s tax bill for a home worth $100,000.

Specifically, the city’s share of the tax rate would increase 25 cents, or 2.4 percent; the school side would increase 38 cents, or 3.1 percent; and the county’s side would increase 14 cents, or 14.5 percent.

Much of the added costs in both the city and school budgets are due to increases in insurance costs and debt service.

A number of uncertainties remain in the city budget, with the largest outstanding issue the city’s final assessed value. The proposed budget assumes an increase of 1.9 percent, or $30 million.

On the expenditure side, several variables remain, notably the final cost of employee health insurance, city officials said. The proposed budget includes a 15 percent increase.

The council is also expected to hold budget workshops the next week of April 29 to May 3.

The public is invited to all budget workshops.