03/09/10
(updated 03/17/10)
Superintendent presents three 2011 budget scenarios; board to begin discussion March 15
School Superintendent Alan Hawkins presented a $20.1 million budget to the School Board at its meeting March 9, 2010, one that poses no tax-rate increase, and a less-than-1-percent increase in spending for fiscal 2011.
At the same time, he presented a "maintenance" budget of $21 million, one that maintains current programs and services at a 5-percent increase taxes and 4.94 percent increase in spending; and a third, "midpoint" budget of $20.5 million, with a 2.5 percent tax-rate increase and 2.83 percent increase in spending over this year's $20 million school budget.
The board will meet in workshop sessions on Monday, March 15, and on Thursday, March 18, to discuss the budget proposal. Both meetings begin at 7 p.m. at the High School library. Public comment will be accepted.
A third meeting dedicated to public participation has also been scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, in the High School cafeteria. [update 03/17/10 - the meeting has been rescheduled to Wednesday, March 31, 7 p.m. in the cafeteria].
The three-scenario budget presentation was requested by the School Board to give an idea of the impact of various spending allowances on the educational program.
The School Department has set up a new Web site page to present the various budget overviews, details and narratives associated with the 2010-2011 budget proposal. The detail outlines the first, no-tax increase scenario, but supplemental pages compare the impacts of each scenario on staffing and programming.
Major proposed expenditure increases exceed $1.1 million, the bulk of which is for salaries and benefits ($515,113), and contingency, ($417,544). The contingency increase is in anticipation of possible furnace replacement at the High School; and preparing for a 2011-2012 budget that will likely include decreased general purpose aid to education from the state and a loss of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds (federal stimulus).
Other major increases include heating oil, $64,800; out-of-district tuition, $63,000; and legal services, $42,000.
The meet the increases, the no-tax increase scenario reduces salaries and benefits by just over $700,000, at a cost of nearly 13 full-time-equivalent positions. "Additionally, school families will see an increase in High School athletic fees that are currently $125 per year," according to a one-page budget overview published by the School Department. "Routine maintenance such as repair of a Middle School/Pond Cove divider wall in the cafetorium and repair of tile work at the High School will be postponed. Some staff development expenses will be decreased," the summary says.
The budget assumes a $2.8 million general purpose aid allocation, as announced March 3 by the Department of Education. The allocation is $252,000, or 9.82 percent, over this year's state aid.
The amount of aid Cape Elizabeth expected for next fiscal year changed significantly since administrators began building the 2011 budget. At the beginning of the school year officials anticipated a $1.7 million budget gap to reach a no-tax increase budget. That picture changed in February when preliminary state aid figures showed Cape Elizabeth losing only $40,000 in subsidy for the next fiscal year. A month later, revised state allocation projections showed Cape Elizabeth, primarily due to decreases in state property value, receiving an increase of approximately $250,000.
The budget picture may change again for School Board members, as Cape Elizabeth Education Association president Dwight Ely informed them at the end of their March 9 meeting that the teacher's union would be willing to take a salary reduction, the equivalent of one furlough day, to help avoid the impact of the no-tax rate increase budget scenario.
He said the union is willing to accept a salary reduction that is twice the amount the average household in Cape Elizabeth is willing to contribute in additional taxes. The salary reduction is preferable to a furlough day because the work needs to be done, Ely said. And, the contribution from taxpayers makes the teachers' contribution fair and equitable, he said.
He said the membership met that afternoon in response to a meeting leaders had the previous week with members of the School Board, who had asked if the union would be willing to contribute to meeting the budget gap. It was the first time the board had made such a request, Ely said.
The Community Services budget will be reviewed by the board along with the school budget.
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