BANGOR – Though it has been nine months since the U.S. Postal Service made known to city officials its plans to seek a new site, it will be at least another month and a half before more information is available, a postal official confirmed this week.

“The postal service’s 2009 budget is currently in review,” Tom Rizzo, spokesman for the postal service’s Maine district, said Friday.

“We anticipate a final decision [on the budget] before the end of our fiscal year on September 30,” he said. “We expect to have more information [about the Bangor post office relocation] at that time.

“I will say this,” Rizzo added. “The U.S. Postal Service, like so many other organizations in the country, is experiencing serious financial challenges,” including rising fuel costs, a declining mail volume and a sagging economy.

“We have to take appropriate steps now to manage costs and increase efficiency in order to preserve our ability to provide quality services and reasonable rates,” he said.

The postal service unveiled its plan to move the Bangor Post Office in a November letter to City Council Chairwoman Susan Hawes.

It put out a request for proposals in March, yielding more than half a dozen offers.

After sorting through the proposals, the postal service in April narrowed its list of options to two favorites:

. The former Miller’s restaurant property at 427 Main St., which until recently housed the interim home of Hollywood Slots at Bangor. Now that the company has moved into its new gaming and entertainment complex just up Main Street, the former restaurant is ready for redevelopment.

Under the terms of their purchase and sale agreement with Hollywood Slots’ parent company, Penn National Gaming, Inc., the Miller family has first refusal on the property once Hollywood Slots moves out. The family has chosen to exercise that option. The Millers said the post office either could use space in the front portion of the existing building or buy a 1-acre piece of that parcel for a building of its own.

. A parcel at the corner of Main and Railroad streets owned by the Quirk car dealership family now contains a used car lot and a four-level building used for storage.

The Quirks also said the post office either could use space in the existing building, which they plan to renovate, or buy a 1-acre piece of that parcel for its own building.

Besides those two sites, city councilors have asked the postal service to consider another option, a building on Harlow Street now occupied by Club Gemini, a downtown nightclub.

The Bangor Post Office currently operates out of the Margaret Chase Smith Federal Building on Harlow Street. It wants to move into a space that better meets its needs.

Now that letter carriers have moved to the regional mail processing facility in Hampden, the downtown post office space is too large, Christopher Madden, the postal service’s real estate specialist for Maine and New Hampshire, earlier told city officials.

He said the current location lacks adequate parking and is difficult for motorists and pedestrians to get to.

No time frame has been established for deciding where the new post office will go.

dgagnon@bangordailynews.net

990-8189