Wiscasset voters reject school spending plan again

May 28, 2008 - TimesRecord.Com

WISCASSET — For the second straight year, Wiscasset voters sent back the school budget for more cuts, voting 239-185 by paper ballot against the proposed $9.5 million 2008-09 spending plan Tuesday.

Last year, when residents voted down the more than $530,000 administrative line in the school budget, town and school officials knew they had three months to go back through their numbers and find further cuts. This year, due to the state's school consolidation law, some in the town believe there's just a 10-day window before officials are required to return to the voters with a new budget.

Superintendent Jay McIntire said this morning that confirming a time table for a revised spending plan is one of many tasks that have suddenly been put on his plate.

"I looked this morning and I can't find the 10-day limit," he said. "That's part of my task today, to make sure we understand the timeline we're working with. I've certainly heard of a 10-day limit, but we need to determine whether or not that applies to us."

Voters on Tuesday did notch a 244-176 tally in approval of a fourth of the proposed school budget — or about three months' worth of funding — to be spent while a final budget is being prepared.

But whether there's a 10-day window or a three-month window, one thing appears certain: The budget approval process must be started all over again with a public hearing and show-of-hands vote, like the one the town held on May 17, and a second paper ballot vote.

On May 17, the residents approved the proposed spending plan and considered a motion to reduce the school budget by $1 million, but that motion didn't pass.

Since then, said McIntire, the school department received news that its heating fuel costs for the coming year will be $100,000 higher than anticipated. He also noted a new contract with the Wiscasset Teachers' Association calls for retroactive pay raises to cover the two years during which the teachers worked without a pact.

"We have a budget that didn't pass, and we're going to already have to pay $100,000 more for fuel costs, and that doesn't include fuel for our buses," said McIntire. "We haven't received any diesel bids yet. But even with the increase in fuel costs and the retroactivity for the contract, we only had an increase of 0.6 percent in local taxes to support the school budget."

But some on the town's Budget Committee want to see the school budget lower. Committee members Judith Colby and Richard Hanson distributed a letter pointing out that, based on the current proposal, the town will be spending $13,135 to educate each student — more than $3,000 above the state average.

"We urge you to look at all the facts and figures in making the right decision in light of the economic times we are in and ask yourself how you can continue to pay this amount of money and deal with the heating costs of your homes, inflated gas prices and the possibility of increased taxes," the letter states.

The bottom line: Voters have sent school and town officials back to the drawing board. "It's been happening every year of late, so we'll just go back and look at the budget and talk with our administrative team and talk with the budget committee and see what their recommendations are," said McIntire. "We'll go back to the town meeting and see what happens."