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08/05/08
School Board proposes budget
increase of 5.3 percent
The School Board is recommending a 5.3 percent increase in school spending
for fiscal year 2008-09, the midpoint between two budget increases that have
been rejected by Cape Elizabeth voters as being too high and too low.
At a special meeting Aug. 1, the board voted unanimously to recommend a school
budget of $19,787,579.
The meeting was held two weeks after Cape Elizabeth voters rejected a $19.9
million budget, an increase of 6 percent over last year's school budget.
It was the second school budget turned down by voters under the state's new
school consolidation law. The first proposal, an increase of 4.6 percent,
was rejected in a June 10 election where most voters said they thought it
was too low.. The majority in the July 22 election said they thought a 6-percent
increase was too high.
"Compromise" was a word used by School Board members at the Aug. 1 meeting
to adopt this latest school budget, said board chairman Kathy Ray. Since
voters thought 6 percent was too high and 4.6 percent was too low, School
Board members reasoned that a 5.3 percent increase would gain a favorable
vote, she said.
"Mostly, we need a budget," Ray said in a telephone interview Aug. 4. "That
was the biggest thing. We do need a budget so that the superintendent can
get on with the school year," she said.
If approved, a 5.3 percent in school spending would add 55 cents to the Town's
tax rate, bringing the total tax increase to 98 cents per $1,000 of assessed
valuation, an increase of 6 percent.
The $19.9 million budget rejected by voters would have meant an overall tax
rate increase of 6.6 percent.
At the Aug. 1 School Board meeting, Hawkins reviewed what line items budgeted
at a 6-percent increase would not make it to the 5.3-percent increase budget.
Missing from the budget would be $3,124 for the Kieve outdoor experience
at the Middle School; a 6/10 time psychologist's position, $43,307; a full-time
curriculum director, $82,610; and a half-time technology technician, $27,500.
The proposed budget also shifts $25,000 to the line for energy costs.
The school budget now goes to the Town Council for adoption and to the citizens
for another validation referendum. No dates have been set, but Town Manager
Michael McGovern has suggested an Aug. 18 meeting for budget adoption by
the council, with a validation referendum Tuesday, Sept. 2.
At their meeting Aug. 1, the School Board voted 5-1 to also recommend to
the Town Council that no public vote be held before Sept. 2.
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