|
On the evening of March 18, the Perry municipal building's meeting room was filled to capacity. Over 20 town residents, school board members and volunteer firefighters were in attendance for the third in a series of budget meetings held by the selectmen to encourage multiple sources of ideas on the town's expenses and revenues as it gears up for the next fiscal year budget season.
Select board Chair Karen Raye recapped the process for those not at the previous two meetings by explaining that because of the 20% increase in taxes that occurred with the fiscal year 2014B2015 budget, the selectmen decided to open the discussion early on for public input. At the second meeting those present went over the current fiscal year budget year‑to‑date numbers.
"There are so many areas we can't cut because we don't have them," Raye said, listing a number of areas such as public safety. However, the town does have a volunteer fire department with a $20,000 operating budget, and Fire Chief Paula Frost was asked to come to the March 18 meeting to discuss her budget as well as the challenges facing volunteer recruitment. The fire department budget was one of three agenda subjects for discussion at the meeting, joining school system options and the town's road crew budget.
Fire department budget
The Perry Volunteer Fire Department has a roster of 22 volunteers, with about 80% trained for firefighter levels 1 and 2. Of the $20,000 budget, risk management insurance takes $5,000 and the remaining $15,000 is used for repairs, gear, fuel and an average stipend of $600 for each volunteer to help defray the costs of transportation and leaving work for calls. The fire department's budget is a part of the town budget and is audited along with the whole. Frost noted that the top priority has to be the mandatory insurance. After that is paid, depending on what expenses are on the horizon, she might delay purchasing replacement equipment unless the law mandates change‑out or a new firefighter needs an equipment set‑up.
The average age of firefighters in the state is 41, Frost told those present. "We do recruit high school students to train up for firefighter 1 and 2, but many leave" for work in other areas. Frost anticipates that many of those young firefighters will eventually return to the area as their careers wind down, but in the meantime she continues to encourage younger citizens to train.
School system scenarios
A hand‑out presented by AOS 77 Superintendent James Underwood outlined different cost scenarios: high school choice versus a contract with a single high school; and a consolidated junior high for the area.
High school costs are: Shead High School, $7,898 per student; Calais High School, $10,047; Washington Academy (WA), $10,046 plus $603 private school fee paid by individual families; $8,100 for Maine School of Science and Mathematics (MSSM) in Limestone. Using conservative figures for the 2015B2016 school year, Underwood listed: 21 Perry students attending Washington Academy for a total cost of $223,650; 22 students attending Shead High School for a total cost of $173,756; one student at Calais High School for a total cost of $10,047; and one student at MSSM for a total cost of $8,100.
Underwood estimated that if the 21 students at WA were at Shead, the savings would come out to $57,792 for one school year. However, Underwood felt that a vote by the townspeople on switching from choice to contract would have little chance of passing, and would "not be right" for the 21 students already at WA. Instead he recommended, if the town wishes to proceed with a town vote, that a contract scenario be framed with staggered admission to the contracted school so that those students already enrolled in WA, Calais and Limestone could remain through graduation. If the staggered scenario were approved by voters with Shead as the contracted school, the first year savings would be around $19,200. Underwood noted that another school system had approached WA about a reduced tuition rate if a contract were adopted and was told that the private school would not lower its tuition rate.
Using the example of sending grades 7 and 8 students to a theoretical junior high at Eastport, Underwood concluded that it would difficult for the town's elementary school to find something that beat the school's own costs. The $117,000 tuition cost associated with sending six students to Eastport would be higher than the town's cost of educating the students at its own facility for $6,741 per student, a cost lower than Calais, Pembroke, Eastport and Charlotte. "The current cost of the teacher and benefits, and transportation for these students at Perry Elementary next year and likely any individual special education costs as well would be less than that [the cost of educating elsewhere]."
In addition, if Perry thought to attract additional elementary school students from another school that might decide to shut down, Underwood estimated that the town's school would need to have about 18 to 20 Pre‑K through Grade 8 students to break even. "I don't believe it will be possible to gain that number or higher" now or in the near future, he said. Saying that Robbinston is the only school in the area facing significant fiscal challenges, he noted that, if the school were to close, it was likely that families would place their students about equally in Calais, Perry and Eastport. If over 25 students did come knocking on Perry's doors, the school would need to hire additional staff, with Underwood estimating that the new balance sheet would break even, meaning "not costing more, but not costing less for taxpayers." A mega‑consolidation of schools for the region is, in his opinion, "not on the horizon in this area."
When asked by Raye if the school committee planned to back any of Underwood's scenarios of change, board Chair Ivy Turner answered in the negative.
Residents Robert and Anne Brewster expressed their frustration with the discussion, suggesting that they had come to the meeting to talk about changes that would have a significant impact on property tax rates. They noted that far larger savings might be achieved if the school were shut down and sold, eliminating operating costs.
Town road crew
The town's road crew operates on an annual budget of about $386,200. However, Robert Brewster pointed out that a couple of items were missing from the figures presented by Raye, including workers' compensation and equipment insurance. Using a comparison between Perry and Pembroke, which contracts out its road work, Raye explained that the road miles are almost the same, with Pembroke paying $144,417 to a contractor to plow 32.2 miles at $4,485 per mile. Perry spends the same per mile amount for 34 miles for a total plow cost of $152,490. Pembroke pays no personnel costs, equipment purchasing or upkeep, but pays $186,600 for its highway account, for a total road budget of $344,480. Raye estimated that if the town were to contract out the work, Perry's total costs for repairs, paving and signs would cost $221,000, and when combined with plowing would total $373,490. The savings would amount to $12,770, not enough in the selectmen's opinion to warrant closing down the department.
Additional services provided by the town's road crew are ditching and grading roads, prep and assist with paving, municipal building lawn mowing and shoveling, installing and removing floats at Gleason's Cove, storm cleanup, assisting with set‑up for elections, wood boiler maintenance, general building maintenance and Harvest Fair set‑up, among others. Raye summed up the presentation by saying that the selectmen are in favor of maintaining the crew, suggesting that without it the town's infrastructure might suffer and the budget itself not necessarily end up with any savings.
The next budget meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 28, at 6 p.m. at the Perry Municipal Building. The public is welcome. |
