| Joanne Cole |
Welcoming New Gloucester and Gray residents to Thursday’s MSAD 15 budget town meeting, Superintendent Craig King said 100 chairs had been set up. He estimated about 80 were occupied, the most attendees in years.
King’s number proved accurate as voters proceeded to approve all 18 budget articles by comfortable margins. Spending articles that required precise counts by the clerks confirmed the number of voters present and reflected the margins by which articles passed: two such tabulated votes passed 56-16 and 58-19, for example.
The May 18 meeting began with an presentation by King that provided an overview of the budget, its context and an article-by-article explanation of the expenditure categories (e.g., regular instruction, special education, debt service, transportation, facilities), and funding. Top line, the proposed $31,276,816 budget for FY23-24 represents a 6 percent increase over the current year, driven in part by salary and health insurance costs, he said.
King paused on a slide that showed 10 years of recent District budgets and an average annual increase of 3.64 percent. Asking if he might editorialize for a moment, King called the figure “pretty impressive” given the Consumer Price Index over the period. In a similar vein, King called Gray-New Gloucester’s per pupil spending “very prudent” and “noteworthy”–as in low–when compared with per pupil spending in neighboring school districts.
King’s presentation also provided the rare opportunity to hear the word billion with a b used in a local context. He was referring to the property valuation of Gray and New Gloucester, a key element in the state’s school funding formula. The two towns’ combined ’23-24 valuation totals $1,804,833,333, up more than $100 million–6.31 percent–over the prior year, leading Augusta to assume that the towns can afford to pay more for services, King said. Gray accounts for two-thirds of that total valuation, nearly $1.2 billion, and New Gloucester the remaining several hundred thousand.
A similar split is reflected in the towns’ respective shares of the district budget. After state support and other revenues are taken into account, the expected tax impact is an increase of $0.92 per thousand dollars of value for Gray residents and $0.57 in New Gloucester, according to figures provided by the towns. That translates to an additional $325 on a $350,000 home in Gray and $200 more in New Gloucester.
Overview concluded, it was on to discussion and voting, moderated by Portland attorney Gregory Im. Residents raised questions about the impact of the expected tax increase, particularly for residents on fixed incomes, and about increased teacher salaries and the condition of Memorial School.
New Gloucester board member Jason Hart, on the Personnel Committee, addressed teacher compensation. The committee’s research into pay scales across Cumberland County schools had shown that GNG “was not where we needed to be” to attract and keep teachers, Hart said. MSAD 15 aimed for the mid-range, he said.
Regarding facilities, board chair Sam Pfeifle responded with broader context as well as specifics about Memorial. The board cut back on capital improvements in order to keep taxes down in the Covid era, Pfeifle said. In addition, the board assesses and sets priorities across all buildings’ needs, he said, adding, “I wish we could fund them all.”
As for Memorial, Pfeifle said “a bubble of children” passing through meant an extra teacher and strained space: “Every corner of every room” was needed. He identified specific expenditures for Memorial, including recent replacement of a boiler, and upcoming repairs. Briefly zooming back out, Pfeifle said the board expects to bring forward facilities requests to the community in the fall.
Following the May 18 meeting, the next step for the FY23-24 budget is an up-or-down district-wide confirmation vote on June 13, on the ballot as part of each town’s municipal election. In New Gloucester, the polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Fire Station, 611 Lewiston Road, on election day, June 13.
Find the draft warrant for the May 18, 2023, MSAD 15 budget meeting at this link. For background on the budget, read the District’s School Budget Message at this link.
