Warren Woods topic of land trust meeting

The Warren Woods, a 156-acre property purchased in December by the Scarborough Land Trust, will be the topic of the group’s annual meeting on Thursday, March 14, at town hall.

Following a 7 p.m. update on land trust activities, environmental scientists Richard Jordan and Kelsey Kaufman will offer a presentation entitled “Wetlands and Wildlife at Warren Woods.”

The pair, from Gorham-based Boyle Associates, conducted an assessment of the site last year prior to the property transfer and were, according to land trust Executive Director Kathy Mills, “blown away by what they found.”

Located in the center of town, Warren Woods borders Payne Road and has extensive frontage on the Nonesuch River, the largest source of fresh water for the Scarborough Marsh. The land trust’s annual meeting is free and open to the public.

Alzheimer’s benefit in Scarborough

The Bid Alzheimer’s Goodbye Live and Silent Auction will be held Thursday, March 14, 5:30-9:30 p.m., at The Landing at Pine Point, 353 Pine Point Road, Scarborough.

There will be live music from local favorites CatHau?s, creative cuisine from Black Tie Catering, and bidding on more than 100 items. The live and silent auctions will feature vacation getaways, sports tickets, autographed memorabilia, gift certificates to area businesses, artwork, jewelry and more.??Funds raised will help provide services to 37,000 Maine people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias and the more than 147,000 family and friends who provide round-the-clock, unpaid care for their loved ones with the disease.??Get more information and purchase tickets at act.alz.org/MaineBidAlzGoodbye or by calling 772-0115.

Cape school proposal calls for 3.3% hike

The Cape Elizabeth Board of Education was set to begin work in earnest on the $22.5 million spending plan for the coming school year in a presentation Tuesday night, after The Current’s deadline, by Superintendent Meredith Nadeau.

The workshop session was set to cover a wide range of line items, including Community Services and the public pool, the district’s capital improvement plan, school facilities and maintenance, transportation, and instructional support.

Nadeau’s initial budget proposal calls for a 3.3 percent, $712,621 hike in spending, about half of which includes a new mandate that half of all teacher retirement checks be paid at the local level. Although Cape Elizabeth had been told by the Maine Department of Education to expect a 9.4 percent ($190,640) boost to its state subsidy, the school department expects a $280,000 drop in Medicaid reimbursements, largely for special education costs.

On Monday, a largely anonymous group known as Cape Advocates for Public Education, which was last active in November when opposing the $6 million library bond, circulated an email claiming that the state general purpose aid for education in Cape, while up year-to-year, is off $200,000 from what was expected because “the governor uses post-curtailment numbers for school spending in his biennial budget.” That curtailment, announced in December, cost Cape about $196,000 in state funding.

All told, the portion of the school budget that needs to come from local taxes under the 2014 school budget is slated to jump 3.8 percent to $19.6 million. According to figures supplied by Town Hall, that will add 41 cents per $1,000 of property valuation to the property tax rate, meaning the median home assessed at $314,000 can expect a $129 tax hike to support school services. The school board has two additional budget workshops scheduled, on March 19 and March 26, the latter of which is expected to include a board vote to adopt the budget and send it to the Town Council. – Duke Harrington

Scarborough considers stand against state budget proposal

At its meeting scheduled for Wednesday, after The Current’s deadline, the Scarborough Town Council was set to debate a resolution formally opposing the biennial state budget presented by Gov. Paul LePage.

At the council’s most recent meeting Feb. 20, a handful of residents rose to urge passage of the resolution, using a template circulated by the Maine People’s Alliance, which claims to have volunteers trying to pass it at more than 50 municipalities statewide.

“MPA members Jene Leng and Betsy Kaufer are taking the lead there” in Scarborough,” said Alliance director Mike Tipping last week. Town Manager Tom Hall said some of the Feb. 20 contingent also reported working for the Democratic Party.

The nonpartisan nature of municipal governance notwithstanding, Hall said, “a number of councilors expressed interest in the idea,” which the South Portland City Council unanimously adopted Feb. 4. According to the resolution, reworded to better fit Scarborough, the elimination of state revenue sharing, proposed by LePage to help balance the state budget, will cost the town $2.6 million if it survives legislative scrutiny. That and other changes to general assistance funding, “homestead” tax exemptions and “circuit breaker” relief for property tax and rents, as well as a shift from the town to the state of commercial excise taxes, could have a severe impact on local taxpayers, said Hall. As proposed, the governor’s budget promises to increase the average property tax bill in Scarborough 5.37 percent, or $225.

Asked to comment on the resolution vote, Gov. LePage’s spokeswoman, Adrienne Bennett, wrote in an email that LePage is unlikely to be swayed by complaints and opposing resolutions that do not come accompanied by alternative solutions.

“While we appreciate communities having conversations about this, Gov. LePage has presented a balanced budget proposal and would like to hear other ideas for structural changes that will lead to a more efficient delivery of government services,” she wrote.

Passport Day in Scarborough

Scarborough Community Services is hosting a special passport event in Scarborough at the Scarborough Municipal Building, 295 U.S. Route 1, on Saturday, March 9, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., to provide passport information to U.S. citizens and to accept passport applications.

Community Services is joining the U.S. Department of State in celebrating Passport Day in the USA 2013, a national passport acceptance and outreach event. U.S. citizens must present a valid passport book when entering or re-entering the United States by air. U.S. citizens entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land borders and sea ports of entry must present a passport book, passport card, or other travel documents approved by the U.S. government.

Information on the cost and how to apply for a U.S. passport is available at the official website travel.state.gov. U.S. citizens may also obtain passport information by phone–in English and Spanish–by calling the National Passport Information Center at the toll-free number 1-877-487-2778.

City jazz musicians moving up

South Portland students will be attending statewide and regional jazz events due to recent performances.

South Portland High school musicians Cole Lemlin, Chuck Key and Taylor Knowles will represent SPHS at the All New England Jazz Band Festival on March 12 at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. The guest director is Graham Breedlove, who is from the U.S. Army Band in Washington, D.C.

Both the Mahoney Middle School jazz band, under the direction of Sandy Barry, and Memorial Middle School jazz band, under the direction of Jean Quinn, earned a “1” rating, which is the highest rating a band can receive, while performing selections such as “Besame Mucho,” “Fast Forward,” “Line Drive” and “When I Fall in Love” at the recent District 1 Jazz Festival. Both middle schools qualified for the Middle School State Jazz Festival, which will be held at Westbrook Middle School on Saturday, March 23.

Local students on Colby dean’s list

Area students were named to the dean’s list at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, for their outstanding academic achievement during the fall semester of the 2012-13 year.

Carolyn J. Bennett, a sophomore, is the daughter of Mark and Catherine Bennett of Scarborough, and attended Scarborough High School.

Samantha J. Drivas, a sophomore, is the daughter of Matthew Drivas of South Portland, and attended South Portland High School.

Joseph E. Long, a sophomore, is the son of Susan LoGiudice of Cape Elizabeth and Roger Long of South Portland, and attended Cape Elizabeth High School.

Kevin J. Philbrick, a sophomore, is the son of Robert Philbrick of Scarborough, and attended Scarborough High School.

Catherine W. Powell, a sophomore, is the daughter of Gregory and Amy Powell of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and attended Cape Elizabeth High School.

Nathanial J. Tolman, a junior, is the son of Gregory and Kathleen Tolman of Scarborough, and attended Scarborough High School.

Rosalie B. Wennberg, a senior, is the daughter of David Wennberg and Anne Carney of Cape Elizabeth, and attended Cape Elizabeth High School.

Environmental scientists Kelsey Kaufman and Richard Jordan of Gorham-based Boyle Associates during an assessment last summer of the Warren Woods property in Scarborough.