ROCKPORT — Who’s to blame for rising property tax bills in Rockport?

Not the town.

As a sort of protest against the hefty hike in the SAD 28 and Five Town Community School District budgets — both of which affect Rockport property owners — the town has committed to a zero increase in municipal spending for next year.

Earlier this spring, Town Manager Don Willard drafted a $3.12 million budget that represented a 3.5 percent increase in the municipal tax hit over the current year. When the town budget committee reviewed the municipal spending plan, knowing the projected school budgets were up, committee members acted where they could.

The committee voted to increase reliance on reserve funds so that Willard’s budget would represent a zero increase in the local tax bill.

The Board of Selectmen supported the idea and indicated Tuesday its intent to recommend that the same flat budget go before voters in June.

Just in case school officials missed the point, a letter was sent to Superintendent Frank Hackett from budget committee Chairman Robert Start, indicating that town officials were not merely trying to cushion the blow of the higher school tax bill.

“The proposed 7.7 percent increase in Rockport’s portion of the school’s 2000-2001 budget is far above all national, regional and local inflation trends,” Start wrote. “Such large increases present a significant burden on taxpayers, especially those on fixed incomes and others experiencing little or no growth in personal income.”

Start noted that the school budgets represent 66 percent of the property tax bill in Rockport.

“Even with no increase in the municipal portion, the proposed increase in the school budget stands to increase Rockport’s property taxes by some 5.6 percent, well above the average 3.9 percent increase the town was able to maintain from 1990-1999.”

The letter, which was endorsed by the entire budget committee, urges school officials to “find ways to contain school tax increase requests to a near-inflation range [of] 2.5-4 percent.”

Start said he was surprised to see the kinds of increases both school budgets are showing in draft form. The SAD 28 and CSD boards are scheduled to vote this week on final budget proposals that go before voters June 13.

“There was widespread agreement that we should send the letter expressing our concern,” Start said. The letter was sent Tuesday. “We were voicing our concern that this wouldn’t become a trend,” he said.

Rockport is on solid enough financial footing to offer a zero-increase municipal budget, said Willard, Start and town Finance Director Pat Small.

The town has $1.3 million set aside in what is called “fund balances,” or reserves. Accountants recommend that towns carry an amount equal to the costs of running government — including the school tax bills — for one month. That amount is about $640,000 for Rockport, Small said.

In order to keep the municipal budget increase at zero, an additional $217,049 from fund balances will be applied. The budget had already called for $210,000 of fund balances to be applied to the construction of a new harbor master building, Willard noted, and $21,000 toward a pathway grant match.

“We are in the enviable position of having no major capital facilities needs on the horizon, and having money in the bank,” Willard said. The town has seen $10 million to $12 million in growth in taxable property over the past decade, the manager said, and several large capital improvement projects were completed without borrowing.

The proposed town budget includes 4 percent across-the-board pay increases, along with higher adjustments for the manager, fire chief and Police Department wages. It also includes money for a revaluation of town properties ($21,000), a new police cruiser ($29,670), improvements to cemeteries ($21,405), and new firefighting equipment ($20,100).