The municipal budget season is now upon us, formally presented to Town Council on Wednesday, April 7. The presentation of the proposed budget establishes the starting point for ongoing discussion. This is a critical period for us each year, as the budget is a representation of our town’s priorities for residents. It gives us an opportunity to look ahead to the coming year and determine what’s most important to our community and areas that need to improve most. We value the trust you have on staff and council to be the stewards of your tax dollars and deliver high-quality public services.

In response to the uncertainty in our national and local economy and related impacts on our residents, the pandemic environment compelled an austere budget in the current year. The Town took many evasive actions to reduce expenditures, particularly on the municipal side of the budget, and the FY 2021 budget saw a modest increase in tax rate as a result. This included a partial furlough of nearly 40 percent of full-time personnel, deferred hiring, and deferred cost of living adjustments (COLA) for personnel.

These costs, combined with partially restoring other staff investments, such as training and development, will have a compounding effect in the FY 2022 budget. The Finance Committee has indicated clear budget goals of restoration, innovation, and safety for our community. Therefore, this proposed budget is in direct response to the current needs of the community with a specific focus on complying with the Committee’s goals.

The budget is organized by expenditures (Town, School, and County) and revenue. Keeping in mind the impact of the pandemic and the reductions that had to be made last year, restoration and strategic new investments are leading to an uncharacteristic 7.22 percent increase in municipal operations over the current year. Significant drivers of the budget include restoring what was deferred in the current year’s budget (due to COVID-19) — staffing, COLA increases, and staff investments. Other drivers that apply in a normal budget year include contractual obligations, insurance increases, new staff investments (3.5 new positions), and new facility initiatives (Alger Hall, purchased in December 2020, and House of Lights, leased in 2020 to support the School Department’s hybrid education model and envisioned in FY 2022 as the new hub for Community Services programming).

School expenses are also proposed to increase, 6.31 percent over the current year. This mainly accounts for staffing, insurance, and adaptations to operations in a pandemic environment. These could potentially be offset with federal resources.

County expenditures are distributed to towns within Cumberland County, relative to the valuation of each municipality as a percentage of all within the county. Scarborough is the second highest valued community, yet for the first time in over 10 years, the expenses to support County operations are set to decrease by 3.34 percent ($106,586).

Revenue from all major sources (State of Maine, excise taxes, permit and program fees, and property taxes) contributes to our municipal budget. Despite the pandemic’s economic impact, our revenue sources remained steady overall (there were decreases in EMS and child care revenue). They are expected to continue to perform well.

New this year is additional support from federal pandemic relief funds, both at the local (Scarborough), county and state level. Allocation details are not yet available, so no federal funding is included in this proposed budget, but it is likely to cover some revenue losses and qualified expenses related to the pandemic response. Details are expected to emerge over the next several months.

Lastly, the budget includes a Capital Budget. Funding is being requested for the first year of the five-year Capital Improvement Plan — put on hold after reductions to the FY 2021 budget. This is an opportunity to move beyond restoration and pursue the innovative investments that were made a goal by the Finance Committee. The majority of the $10.9 million plan uses long-term borrowing, but $2.4 million is proposed to be appropriated.

As a result of these restorative measures and innovative investments, the net budget as currently proposed requires a 9.79 percent increase from this year’s budget to be raised through property taxes. This is a starting point, and will launch many further discussions on how this could be reduced while continuing to provide high level Town and School services to our community.

What’s next? The Finance Committee will go through several drafts, collecting feedback from the public and Town Council and the School Board, to determine funding priorities and what is affordable in the year ahead. A final budget should be adopted in June. Follow along the process by checking our Municipal Budget Portal, http://budget.scarboroughmaine.org/, also accessible via our website homepage. You will gain further insight into the process through resources like the full budget document and the April 7 budget presentation, links to participate in budget meetings, and more. To share your thoughts, questions, or concerns, please do not hesitate to email the Town Council at towncouncil@scarboroughmaine.org.

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