Westbrook City Council, in a second reading, voted unanimously, 7-0, to set the city’s budget at $99.2 million for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

The total municipal and school budget raises the estimated tax rate 57 cents from $14.75 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to $15.32, representing a 3.86% increase. Taxes on a home assessed $341,500, the median value in Westbrook, would jump up $194.66. The assessor will set the tax rate later this summer when the city’s total assessed valuation is determined.

Westbrook City Council President Claude Rwaganje, standing, at the May 5 meeting. Robert Lowell/Community Reporter

“This year, the budget (process) has been very smooth compared to the last six years,” City Council President Claude Rwaganje said at the May 5 meeting.

The budget includes $36.7 million in municipal spending; $54 million for schools, including adult education; a tax increment financing $6.4 million line; and the $2.1 million from the Cumberland County tax assessment of the city.

The school portion of the budget now goes to a public validation referendum on Tuesday, June 10.

A year ago, two referendum votes were required to pass a $51 million school budget after voters first shot down a $51.7 million request.

Resident Chris Dudley of Haskell Street from the public podium asked City Administrator Jerre Bryant about the potential impact of any federal cutback in funding.

Bryant said federal funding comes to the city in the forms of grants, or capital in nature, and are accounted for separately. If funding were curtailed or axed for a grant, as an example, immediate evaluation would be required, according to Bryant, and in most cases a cutback would shut down a program.

The city, Bryant said, doesn’t have direct federal dollars to fund departments like police, public services, fire and elsewhere.

“On the municipal budget, there is very little in direct federal funding going into the budget,” Bryant said, but he pointed out he wasn’t speaking for the Westbrook School Department.