Town to consider
tax due date delay
The Town Council is expected to decide at its meeting next month whether to extend the property tax due date, Chairman Suzanne Phillips said this week.
Taxes are due May 15, and the Town Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. May 5.
An extension could ease the financial impact for taxpayers during the coronavirus crunch.
Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak said in an email last week the town is in a good financial position and has been “very conservative” on revenue projections.
“Obviously, if people are in a position to pay their taxes we encourage them to as the payments cover the cost of education, public safety including our ambulance service and all other town departments which are still operating and providing the same services, often more,” Paraschak said.
Paraschak said the town will take a hard look at services moving forward for the remainder of the year and into next year’s budget and some changes may be needed. Most municipal positions have transitioned into remote roles and/or adhere to social distancing requirements.
“The next few months will undoubtedly be a challenge for all municipalities in dealing with the uncertainty of this pandemic moving into the next fiscal year,” Paraschak said.
Nichols bicentennial prize winner
Nichols
Stephanie Nichols, Narragansett Elementary School Grade 2 teacher, was the state’s February winner
of $400 in the first drawing of the Bicentennial Curriculum Sharing Initiative.
Nichols is one of several educators who uploaded lesson plans for through the initiative. Her “How Communities Represent Themselves” helps students learn to identify the historical and current flags of Maine and understand the concept of community representation through the symbols on the flags.
The lesson includes an activity where students work in small groups to create flags to represent their classroom/school communities.
The Maine Department of Education in collaboration with the Maine Bicentennial Commission and the Maine Historical Society launched the online resource in February as a way to help Maine teachers integrate Maine’s Bicentennial into their lessons.
Library update
Baxter Memorial Library has announced that due dates from Feb. 1 on have been updated with a return date of June 1. That date will be automatically extended if the library or the Minerva system remains closed longer.
Library cards that expired between Jan. 1, 2019, and April 26, 2020, will be updated through April 27.
Blood drive on campus
American Red Cross and University of Southern Maine are hosting a blood drive from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tuesday, April 28, at the Costello Sports Center on the Gorham campus.
U.S. taxpayer debt
The Bureau of the Fiscal Service reported on April 16 that the U.S. public debt was $24,465,291,180,713.11.
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