Brooksville to ask voters for $500k bond to attract dredging funds

‘Brooksville has 52 miles of coastline, and there is no all-tide public access,’ says harbor committee chair

The pier at Betsy’s Cove. Photo by John Epstein.

Feb. 25, 2026

By John Epstein

Brooksville voters will be asked their annual town meeting on March 3 if they want to approve issuing a bond for as much as $500,000 to underpin a three-phase project to dredge Betsy’s Cove and reconstruct the town’s landing pier and boat ramp.

Water, water everywhere…but not at low tide

The waterfront challenge for the town has always been one that Mother Nature controls: the tide.

“Brooksville has 52 miles of coastline, and there is no all-tide public access,” said Mark Shaughnessy, chair of the Brooksville Harbor Committee, which voted unanimously in favor of the project.

Shaughnessy said that the dozens of lobster fishermen who moor their boats at Betsy’s Cove must laboriously load traps in stages using the old pier and floats and then wait for the tide to rise in order to bring their boats in for loading. He explained that dredging the cove would create a low water tide of approximately six feet that would provide 24-hour access.

A 2022 estimate by the Army Corps of Engineers, cited by the Harbor Committee at a recent public hearing, concluded that the Betsy’s Cove improvements, including a wider and stronger pier with a redesigned ramp and floats, would save lobstermen $569,000 annually in labor and fuel.  

“All-tide access wouldn’t just help lobster fishermen,” said Shaughnessy, noting that those who fish for other species in the bay, recreational boaters, people who provide services to off-shore islands, and emergency responders would also benefit from better water access.

“Improved access at Betsy’s Cove would also likely spur more business activity in Buck’s Harbor,” he added.   

Bond authorization needed to help secure grant funding

Aerial photograph with a diagram showing the potential dredging area. Photo courtesy of the town of Brooksville.

The Harbor Committee estimates that the Betsy’s Cove project, as planned, would be constructed and funded over three phases at an estimated total cost of $1,848,337. The Committee seeks a matching grant of $902,938 from the Northern Border Regional Commission, a federal and state partnership that issues “Catalyst Grants” to support economic development in rural areas in the northeast.

“We filed for a Catalyst Grant in October 2025, but didn’t get it because they wanted committed funding for a 50 percent match,” Shaughnessy said. But if town voters approve a warrant item on March 3 to issue a general obligation bond of $500,000, that would be considered as part of a commitment to qualify for Catalyst Grant consideration, even if the town never takes on the bond obligation, he said.

Also available for matching purposes are other committed funds to the town such as a 2025 Small Harbor Improvement Grant (SHIP) of $250,000 from Maine’s Department of Transportation and $113,000 from the Harbor Committee’s reserve account created by mooring and docking fees.  

If awarded the Catalyst Grant, as well as future anticipated SHIP grants, the town would not need to incur the expense of issuing a bond to perform the Phase 1 dredging work or the pier and boat ramp work of Phases 2 and 3. This is largely because the town will likely acquire small grants from other sources and generate sufficient town funds to allocate approximately $350,000 to complete the project.

The Brooksville Town Meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 3, at 7 p.m. at the Brooksville Elementary School.