WINTERPORT — By the end of the week, Winterport residents should receive their first full-year tax bill since changing the fiscal year to July 1.

Property valuations went up about 3 percent this year, according to Town Manager Scott Tilton, and the tax rate will be $20.20 per $1,000 valuation, compared with $19.85 per $1,000 on the previous tax bill.

The rate originally was estimated at $21.20, but a special town meeting last Thursday evening gave voters the opportunity to reduce the amount needed from taxes by $75,000 from the additional fund balance.

Because the tax bills are going out later than planned, voters also extended the due date for the first half of taxes until Oct. 12. The second half will be due March 15, Tilton said.

He hopes that property owners will make their second payment by the due date so that the town won’t have to spend much on postage for reminders.

“We’d like not to have to send out the second due date,” he said.

Tilton explained the way each $20.20 per $1,000 collected would be divided: $15.18 per $1,000 will go to the budget for SAD 22, comprising Hampden, Winterport and Newburgh; $1.26 per $1,000 will be contributed to the county budget; and $3.76 per $1,000 will be reserved for the town budget and overlay account.

Explained another way, Tilton said, 6 cents of every tax dollar goes to the county, 75 cents to the school district, and 19 cents to the town budget and overlay.

“I think for 19 cents on the dollar, the town provides a pretty good service,” he said.

The amount contributed to the county budget by Winterport this year is $94,754, an increase of $18,760 or 20 percent. The town’s portion of the school budget is an increase of 6 percent, or $69,692, to $1,146,236 this year.

The amount raised for the town, on the other hand, is actually going down by almost $119,000, to $251,312. The reason for the decrease is more revenues in a number of areas, Tilton said.

Past budgets underestimated the amount received from revenue sharing by thousands of dollars, he explained, and that has been adjusted.

This year, the town also added to its ambulance reserve account, which probably will be used in the next year. A new reserve account was begun to pay for new tax maps in the next couple of years.

Capital improvements in the current budget include replacing the water tank on a fire truck, and a new photocopier for the town office.

The town also appropriated its matching portion of a recycling grant.

Winterport recycles about 21 percent of its trash, Tilton said. Measures to increase that percentage will include placing containers at the transfer station on Route 139.

The recycling committee also is preparing a handbook to give residents information on how to recycle. A grant has been received to purchase a glass crusher.

In addition, Tilton said, there are plans to construct a building at the transfer station to hold furniture and appliances that people don’t want, but may be useful to someone else.

As of Monday, no one had expressed an interest in the selectman’s seat to be filled on Nov. 8, Tilton said. Clifford Woodman is resigning on that date for health reasons.

Nomination papers for the rest of his term will be available Aug. 25, Tilton said, and must be returned by Sept. 29.