Edgecomb residents gathered at Edgecomb Eddy School to amend and approve the almost $4.5 million education budget. By the end of the meeting, the total budget was decreased by $51,644. Voters will approve the budget at the polls on May 16 from 1-7 p.m. (Emily Bracher photo).
After three hours of discussion, Edgecomb residents approved an education budget totaling $4,487,740 at a special town meeting on Saturday, May 2.
The final budget is a decrease of $51,644 or 1.14% from the originally proposed $4,539,384, the product of multiple amendments throughout the meeting made by Edgecomb School Committee Chair Heather Sinclair.
“We’ve received the actual amount of health insurance premium increases for next year and it came in under what we budgeted for,” Sinclair said. “So we would like to offer what we would consider a friendly amendment.”
The education budget is an increase of $329,087 or 7.91% from last year.
With the reduction of the total budget, the amount of additional local funds needed decreased by $201,644. The change reflects the reductions made in articles 2-12 and the use of a total of $200,000 in unassigned funds. With this, the new total for unassigned funds is $1,428,265.36
Taxpayers will be responsible for $3,302,029, an increase of $318,606 or 10.68%. With amendments made during the meeting, the amount is a decrease of $201,644 or 5.76% from the original budget recommended by the school committee.
The approved transportation and buses budget totals $161,285, a decrease of $29,382 or 15.41% from last year.
The cost center includes funds in anticipation of rising fuel costs and covers the salary of two bus drivers. Allen announced during the meeting that one of the school’s bus drivers is retiring and the school is in need of a new one.
The transportation and buses budget was decreased by a total of $26,032 or 13.9% from the originally proposed amount. Of the total, $1,032 was a part of the series of amendments Sinclair made while the other $25,000 reflects the removal of the proposed bus lease. The new plan is to maintain current vehicles through increased maintenance standards.
Voters approved Article 12, the $68,808 all other expenditures budget, an increase of $33,808 or 96.6%. Sinclair said the increase is so Edgecomb Eddy can hire a full-time kitchen staff member. The school’s kitchen has not been used in over a decade, Sinclair said. Rather, school lunch has been cooked at and brought over from the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor Community School District.
Sinclair said the two main reasons for a full-time kitchen staff member is to ensure the freshness of the student’s meals and to lighten the load of other staff members who need to step away from their responsibilities to oversee lunch.
“We felt like this was the right time to move forward with this idea,” Sinclair said.
Edgecomb Eddy would also be able to apply for additional grant funding with the addition of a full-time kitchen staff member, Sinclair said. The school currently does not have access to these grants because it doesn’t supply food from in house.
Sinclair said other towns, like Boothbay, have been able to reduce their price burden by operating off of a reimbursement program that Edgecomb Eddy could benefit from by running its kitchen.
Maureen Heffernan, who is running against Sinclair for a seat on the Edgecomb School Committee, asked if the money proposed for the kitchen staff could instead be used for enrichment activities, such as a math tutor or trips to museums.
Sinclair said with the salaried position, the staff members who were originally overseeing lunch would have the time to help with the suggested enrichment programs.
“Kids can’t learn if they’re hungry,” resident Alison Ferris added.
A major topic of discussion throughout the meeting was the increase of tax impact, many residents upset with the spike in cost. Before the total education budget was approved near the end of the meeting, resident Charlie Willauer tried to make an amendment to reduce another $200,000 from the budget. The amendment received a second but was voted down.
In response to Willauer’s proposal, Edgecomb School Committee John Allen said if the decrease were approved, it wouldn’t lighten tax impact because the number had already been voted on a few articles ago and should have been a conversation brought up when each line item was being discussed. If the total budget were decreased by the amount, Allen said regular instruction would be hit the hardest, including a teacher position being cut, which would lead to the consolidation of grade levels.
“We would need to cut from this line that is at least one full-time teacher from this budget,” Allen said. “That means that at least one grade level would have to be combined. And how do we pick which of our students are going to receive less of an education as a result of combined classrooms?”
Conversation about tax impact started earlier in the meeting, with many in attendance questioning the rising cost of education, especially for a school as small as Edgecomb Eddy.
Sinclair explained a lot of the increasing costs are out of the school committee’s control and are in the hands of the Maine Legislature. She also said these costs do not only cover the K-6 students attending Edgecomb Eddy, but all of Edgecomb’s students who attend surrounding middle and high schools.
Edgecomb is considered a minimum receiver of state subsidy because the funding formula uses property valuations to determine how much funding towns receive. The higher the property valuation, the lower the amount of state subsidy. Sinclair said the formula is outdated and high property valuations do not mean Edgecomb residents are able to compensate for rising taxes.
In March, Sinclair went to the Legislature to testify for a better solution. The testimony was written alongside the town’s select board and budget committee, which calls for a statewide system that fundamentally shifts the way state subsidies are allocated, alter the way tuition is calculated, and offer more tax programs for families and residents in communities with high property taxes.
“This has been the number one problem of our tax dollars in this town for several years, and for her to represent our community, to fight for us in school, and get those dollars adjusted in the state, thank you Heather Sinclair,” Edgecomb Select Board Chair Michael Maxim said.
Along with comments about rising costs, some suggested the consolidation of education on the Boothbay peninsula. For some, this would mean the closure of Edgecomb Eddy School. In response, Allen said this effort would not necessarily immediately solve taxpayers’ problems, as it would remove a lot of local control from the town. He also mentioned the process would take a long time, usually up to three to five years.
“I 100% agree, there needs to be systematic change,” Allen said.
Edgecomb Eddy art teacher Heather Chouinard said the best way for residents to make the mentioned systematic change is to call their state legislators and talk about the problem of rising taxes.
After an amendment from Sinclair, the $2,446,095 regular instruction was approved. This is a decrease of $10,216 or 0.42% from the original amount and an increase of $211,448 or 9.46% from last year.
The special education budget was decreased by $9,780 or 1.05% through an amendment. Voters approved the newly recommended amount of $917,441, an increase of $70,050 or 8.27% from last year.
When questioned about the breakdown of the budget, Sinclair said the cost center covers the salary of the full-time special education position at Edgecomb Eddy, the education technicians hired to meet the needs of special education students both at Edgecomb Eddy and the secondary schools students attend, as well as speech therapy and occupational therapy.
Allen said the budget also covers the town’s portion of AOS 98’s special education director salary.
“The cost of special education is tremendously high. It’s not just high here; it’s high across the board,” Allen said.
Article 8 received an amendment, decreasing the school administration budget by $5,188 or 2.34%. Voter approved the new total of $216,698, a decrease of $11,029 or 4.84% from last year.
Voters approved the $371,052 facilities and maintenance budget, an increase of $29,276 or 8.57% from last year. This total is an amended amount, a decrease of $428 or 0.12% from the originally proposed amount.
The facilities and maintenance budget covers the cost of custodial staff, electricity, and repairs throughout the school. The increased amount is to account for an upcoming project to replace the exterior doors of the building, which have been rusting, Sinclair said.
Sinclair said the cost center didn’t include the price of replacing the school’s lights because of a grant obtained by the select board to cover the project. The estimated amount of electricity savings from the transition to LED lights is $16,000.
Other articles on the warrant passed with little to no discussion. The meeting was closed with a final comment from former select board member Martha Speed, who urged the select board to consider moving back to an open annual town meeting instead of referendum voting.
“I think we need to ask out selectmen to go back to an open meeting, even though they say the ballot vote gets more people,” Speed said.
Voters will then consider validating the education budget at the polls on Saturday, May 16, which coincides with the annual town meeting by referendum and election of municipal officers. Polls will be open from 1-7 p.m. at the town hall.
For more information, call 882-7018 or go to edgecomb.org.
