SELECTMAN PAMELA DUNNING, speaking at center, said the Wiscasset Board of Selectmen is likely to approve the warrant article to appropriate $1.25 million to offset the tax hike.
Wiscasset residents could see a 27 percent tax hike in 2015.
That is unless selectmen vote to approve an article on the Town Meeting warrant to appropriate $1.25 million from the town’s reserve account to offset the increase.
At a Special Town Meeting Wednesday night, Wiscasset residents voted to approve a $9,408,062 school budget, of which the local share is $6,918,859, to fund the first year of Wiscasset’s standalone district. The local share for Wiscasset as a member town of Regional School Unit 12 for 2014 was slightly more than $5 million.
“If the budget that was recommended by the board of selectmen, and the county budget … and the school budget, is put all together … you’re looking at a 27 percent tax increase,” said Interim Town Manager Don Gerrish at the meeting, which 113 residents attended.
The municipal budget recommended by the selectboard represents 2 percent of that increase, the county taxes have increased by approximately half a percent, said Gerrish, and 25 percent is owing to school costs.
A resident, who was not identified by name, asked if there was an opportunity to access the reserve account to offset the tax hike.
At the selectmen’s meeting next Tuesday, the Board of Selectmen will approve articles for the Town Meeting warrant, Gerrish said, and one of those will be a warrant article “to approve up to $1.25 million from the reserve account to offset the tax commitment.”
If that article is approved for the warrant and passes at Town Meeting, it will reduce the proposed tax increase to 9.88 percent, said Gerrish.
The state subsidy for 2015 is $1,289,203, and the expected income from tuition is $1.2 million.
Residents debated the budget recommended by the Wiscasset School Board for two hours, with several amendments to reduce budget lines proposed — none of which were adopted.
Retired Wiscasset Primary School principal Cheryl Howe proposed an amendment to reduce the budget line for regular instruction, which includes the salaries and benefits of teachers, classroom supplies, books and equipment by $275,000, decreasing the recommended amount from $3,926,988 to $3,651,988.
“The things I think should be looked at are music in the middle and high school,” said Howe. “If we look at the numbers of students receiving those services, I think we can reduce staff.”
Howe also suggested reviewing the literacy and reading recovery programs, “because the expense is more than we can afford right now.”
“This is really the operating budget that we feel is really necessary for operating the schools,” said Steven Smith, vice chairman of the school board. “I would be totally opposed to getting rid of more programs in the schools, and a decrease of that amount would be a decrease in services that we now have.”
If personnel was reduced in those programs, Howe said, services would not need to be cut because the students could be managed by fewer staff.
The amendment failed and the article passed without a reduction.
The special education budget line passed with little debate, in the amount of $1,577,797. Interim Superintendent Wayne Dorr said that of the district’s approximately 550 students, 20 percent receive special education services.
A motion was made to reduce the budget line for student and staff support, which provides salaries and benefits for guidance, library, health and technology staff by 10 percent, from $793,982 to $714,583. This amendment failed by a show of hands and the article was passed for the recommended amount.
An amendment to cut the budget by $110,000 for school administration, which provides the salaries and benefits for the schools’ principals, assistant principals and support staff, also failed.
Howe proposed that a principal position be eliminated as the school board has talked about consolidating the three schools in the Wiscasset system to two. The amended amount would have reduced the budget line from $584,993 to $474,993.
“I think we are going to consolidate (schools) next year for sure,” said Smith, “but there needs to be a planning process and we’ve just begun to scratch the surface of what those (consolidation) costs are going to be.”
Smith said it was important to have three administrators to help facilitate a “consolidation program,” and that it was likely the district would cut one principal position in 2016. The amendment failed narrowly, with 36 in favor and 42 opposed. The article for the recommended amount for school administration passed 46-29.
Lengthy debate centered around the adult education budget, which saw a dramatic cut in the amount recommended by the school board.
Article 15 proposed that the board appropriate $10,000 for adult education, as opposed to 2014’s $66,000 local share of a total $293,000 operational budget. This amount would fund Wiscasset students to take adult education classes in Bath, school officials said.
A resident identified as Chris proposed an amendment to increase the budget to the level at which it had previously been funded.
Anne Fensie, director of Wiscasset Adult and Community Education, said that the program serves both residents and non-residents, but the free programs offered — such as classes to earn a high school diploma — are filled 75 percent by Wiscasset residents. Enrichment classes that students pay tuition to attend mostly enroll nonresidents, approximately 80 percent, said Fensie.
Board member Sharon Nichols noted that some of the Wiscasset residents Fensie mentioned enrolled in classes are inmates at Two Bridges Regional Jail, who are considered temporary residents.
“I support anyone getting their degree,” Nichols said, “but these are adults that can drive as opposed to taking benefits and programs away from children who can’t. It isn’t that far to drive to Bath or Boothbay and those programs are all there.”
Resident Vicki Hoyle countered Nichols’s argument.
“For someone who perhaps doesn’t have a GED, doesn’t have a job, doesn’t have a car — a 20-mile round trip commute to get your GED is probably not an option,” she said.
The amendment failed by a show of hands and the article passed for the recommended amount of $10,000.
The Board of Selectmen will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday to vote on the articles for the May 31 Town Meeting warrant.
rgargiulo@timesrecord.com
WISCASSET BOARD OF SELECTMEN will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday to vote on the articles for the May 31 Town Meeting warrant.
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