With the SAD 61 school budget “skyrocketing” and the Naples municipal budget actually less than last year, Naples residents this year can expect a win/lose situation when they receive their tax bills for this coming year.

The $3.03 million Naples municipal budget for the upcoming fiscal year will be about three percent less than last year, according to Town Manager Derik Goodine.

Goodine called it “a status-quo budget” due to the small number of changes. Before handing out budget request forms, Goodine asked department heads to make their budgets 3.5 percent less than the previous year. Many of the departments succeeded in doing just that. The sanitation budget is 21 percent (around $45,000) less than last year due to revenue and a tightening of the budget. The Fire Department budget is 5.6 percent ($7,485) more due to the increased price of diesel fuel. The Rescue budget is 3.6 percent ($12,237) more because of insurance and increased salaries. The Dispatch budget is .5 percent ($917) less as a result of reining in budget costs to more accurate figures.

The Historical Society budget is 15 percent ($500) more because of furnace repairs. The Highway budget is 4.16 percent ($24,650) more because of snow removal costs, including salt and sand, and highway maintenance costs, including crack-sealing and paving. The budget allots $6,000 for causeway improvements and $50,000 has been added for sidewalk plowing during the winter months. This all adds up to be about 33 cents below the LD1 spending cap for the town.

School budget

Conversely, the projected Naples school budget ($5.39 million) will be around 11.5 percent more than this fiscal year. This is Naples’ share of an overall MSAD 61 budget of $17.84 million ($25.64 million with state and non-tax funding) that includes Sebago, Casco and Bridgton. One of the reasons for this increase is a reassessment of property value in Naples that has increased the town’s share of the MSAD 61 budget by .5 percent.

“The formula is based on population of students and property value. Our land has been assessed at $20 million more than last year,” Janice Barter, chairwoman for the MSAD 61 board of directors, said. “But we’re not taxing people on what the state says we’re worth. The sate should be looking at per capita income opposed to what the land is worth.”

Health insurance premium and maintenance costs have also contributed to the budget increase. According to the MSAD 61 budget, salaries have only had a contractual 3 percent increase ($15.42 million), but benefits have increased by 15 percent ($4.16 million).

“The general increase in our total (MSAD 61) budget is 6.5 percent.” Barter said. “Four-and-a-half percent of that is salaries and benefits. One-and-a-half percent is instructional. The rest is maintenance.”

Another $190,000 has been allotted in the school budget for maintenance projects such as refinishing the gym floors at the middle school and high school and asbestos removal at the high school. Another $25,000 will go to the school’s capital reserve fund. And $129,000 is appropriated to the capital reserve. This money is appropriated for school repairs and modernization of equipment. A public vote is however needed for the expenditure of these funds.

Budget fallout

The rise in this year’s school budget has been a topic of debate for Naples. In recent town elections, many candidates spoke out about the school budget saying it has “skyrocketed” in recent years. Though many raised concern, no official candidate ran for the MSAD board of directors this past election. Instead, Marilyn Thompson was elected to the board of directors as a write-in candidate.

The MSAD 61 budget of 2005/06 still needs to be approved by the public vote in referendum.

“We have to be advocates for the quality education of the kids in this district and we believe that the proposed 6.5 percent increase will do exactly that, provide a quality education,” Klaus-Peter Voss said, superintendent of MSAD 61, “Of course the final word lies with the voters and hopefully they are in support of what we are doing.”

The referendum vote was initiatively going to be held in conjunction with the town elections of May 17. However, due to an error on the ballot, the referendum vote has been rescheduled for Tuesday, May 31.

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