01/08/09
(updated 01/09/09)
Public budget forum slated for Jan. 21, 2009
Fiscal Year 2010 promises to be a challenge for officials charged with developing the municipal and school budgets, so both the Cape Elizabeth School Board and the town council are looking for direction from citizens.
Both bodies will host a public budget forum at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, in the Town Hall chamber. The forum will be broadcast live over CETV, Cape Elizabeth public access Channel 3.
At a recent meeting of the town council's finance committee, attended by many school board members and administrators, officials agreed on the need to hear from citizens as to what priorities should drive the spending plan for FY 2010.
"We will be faced with a significant loss of revenue," said Town Councilor Anne Swift-Kayatta, chairman of the town council's finance committee, in a telephone interview. "The budgets are going to reflect service cuts."
The format of the Jan. 21 forum will be like a public hearing. It will be an opportunity, Swift-Kayatta said, for officials to hear from citizens about their ideas for town/school revenue enhancements, their preferences or priorities for service cuts, and their thoughts on the proper level of property taxes.
Swift-Kayatta said that officials are hoping for a good turnout. "We will take into consideration what the people want," she said. "We will have to balance all those priorities and competing needs," including the need to keep a check on property taxes, she said.
Town Manager Michael McGovern has said that he plans to submit a draft town budget to the council that would have no tax-rate increase, but will mean a projected reduction in municipal spending of 3.28 percent. School administrators have been directed, for preparation purposes, to keep draft budgets within a 2-percent increase limit. This scenario would mean a tax increase of 4.4 percent for school services, but an overall tax-rate increase of 2.5 percent, assuming flat spending for Community Services and a reduction in county assessment.
If both the school and town budgets require no tax increase, town spending would decrease by 3.28 percent, and school spending would decrease by .95 percent, according to scenarios presented at the finance committee's Jan. 6 workshop. (Click here to view/download scenario spreadsheet (Excel format))
The calculations take into account projected revenue decreases of $286,160 in municipal revenue, and $470,812 in state aid to education, for a total $720,662 revenue decrease for FY 2010.
The council and the school board will meet after the forum to further discuss the budget outlook and preparations. That meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, in the Cape Elizabeth High School cafeteria.
Those who cannot attend the forum are urged to share their thoughts on the budget with members of the School Board and Town Council. Contact information can be found on this Web site.
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