SCARBOROUGH – Following a public hearing Wednesday on adjustments to the school budget, the Scarborough Town Council was expected to set the date for a return to the polls.

The agenda for the meeting, which took place after the deadline for this week’s The Current, called on voting to take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 13, at town hall.

The one question on the ballot will ask voters whether they approve of the school budget amendments adopted by the council at its July 31 special meeting. Those variations from the budget OK’d by residents July 11 include accepting $788,038 in additional funding from the state, directing $520,283 into the new local obligation for teacher retirement pay and the rest, $267,775, into property tax relief.

By using that money to lower the need from taxation to support Scarborough’s $70.94 million budget to $53.96 million, the council expects to lower the tax rate 8 cents, to $14.80 per $1,000 of valuation an increase of $1, or 7.23 percent, over last year.

The net result of means the median home in Scarborough, assessed at $300,000, can now expect a property tax increase of $300, instead of $324.

The budget amendments were needed because the local budget was adopted by the time the state Legislature finished its work for the year. In late-session amendments, it added $19.7 million in new money for schools and moved $8.4 million targeted by Gov. Paul LePage for specific education projects into general purpose aid. Additionally, the minimum special education subsidy percentage was increased from 25 to 35 percent.

The windfall to Scarborough might have been larger, but late in its own budgeting cycle the Town Council carved $623,500 from the budget in the hope that LePage’s plan to shift retirement costs to local budgets would not survive legislative scrutiny. That bet did not pay off, prompting the added $520,283 in spending on top of the $788,038 hike in revenue.

South Portland and Cape Elizabeth also got additional education dollars from the state after adopting their respective budgets. However, neither will require a second nod from voters.

In South Portland, the City Council dumped its $889,125 into various reserve accounts, including $300,000 into a high school renovation fund.

Cape Elizabeth’s school subsidy shot up $427,688, but part of the council’s budget vote in May accounted for unanticipated state revenue, directing anything received to property tax relief.

Town assessors are expected to commit and set the property tax rate in Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough in early August, while South Portland completed that work last week.

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