Westport Island Budget Committee Chairman Dennis Dunbar suggested RSU 12 adopt a cost cap in its new cost allocation formula at a public hearing in Wiscasset Jan. 18.
Citing Westport Island’s high cost per student ratio since joining the RSU, Dunbar suggested capping the amount of money each town pays per student. Westport Island, he said, spends over $16,000 per student, up from the $8700 the town paid prior to joining the RSU.
“It makes continued membership in the RSU problematic,” Dunbar said. “A cap would solve that problem.”
RSU 12 Superintendent Greg Potter explained the high cost per student as a function of Westport Island’s particularly high property taxes. Westport Island’s property taxes, he said, make the town an outlier in the RSU when it comes to the cost per student.
“It may be an outlier, but it’s hard to believe it’s equitable,” Wiscasset Selectman Ed Polewarczyk said in response to Potter’s explanation.
Dunbar said the Budget Committee has made the recommendation RSU 12’s Finance Committee last spring, but had seen no action on the proposal.
In an email sent after the public hearing, Dunbar suggested introducing a “50-percent cap” based on the cost per student average in the RSU.
“The recommended addition to the plan would state that the allocated cost per student for any member municipality shall not exceed the average cost per student for the total RSU by any more than 50-percent,” Dunbar wrote.
Should the average cost per student be $6500, for example, no town would have to pay more than $9750, or 1.5 times the average.
Dunbar said the proposed formula would bring Westport Island’s cost per student commitment down to around $13,000 after five years.
RSU Finance Committee Chair Jerry Nault said his committee would take the recommendation under advisement when it meets to discuss changes to the cost allocation formula at its next meeting.
After the meeting, RSU 12 Board Chairman Hillary Holm said the Finance Committee would also take a look at its method for determining town population, a major factor in determining each town’s local additional contribution.
The issue was first raised by Wiscasset Selectman Ed Polewarczyk, who questioned why the Finance Committee used each town’s average population over 30 years rather than data from the most recent census.
According to Nault, the Finance Committee sought to “smooth changes” resulting from population fluctuations, preventing a town experiencing a population spike in one census cycle from suddenly being hit with a larger financial commitment.
The public hearing Jan. 18 was one of two planned events aimed at soliciting public input before the RSU 12 Board of Directors votes on the new plan in February. Before the Finance Committee presents its plan to the whole board, it can make changes based on public feedback from the hearings.
Should the proposed cost allocation formula pass a vote by the RSU Board and each member town, Wiscasset’s portion of the local additional funding would drop from 35.1 percent to 31.7 percent. Westport Island’s share would fall from 8.5 percent to 6.9 percent. Alna and Whitefield’s contribution would drop slightly from 6.2 percent to 5.8 percent. Somerville’s portion would rise from 2.7 percent to 3.7 percent.
The new formula takes into account student count and population when determining each town’s contribution.
While the RSU has estimated what these changes would mean in real dollars over the next five years, Potter cautioned that state funding changes would likely alter the numbers.
“It probably won’t be the same,” he said.
A five percent safety net will be put in place to help towns adjust to the new funding requirements. The safety net is expected to be phased out in five years, depending on the town.
For the new funding formula to take effect by next year, each town must approve it by March 31.
The second public hearing will be held at 7 p.m., Wed., Jan. 25, at Windsor School.
