ORONO, Maine — Emily Cain’s appearance wasn’t on the agenda, but when the chairwoman of the Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee found herself home in Orono Monday night, she took the opportunity to let the Town Council know where it stands in the current budget negotiations.
She delivered both good and bad news in a brief update to the council in its monthly meeting, hours after her committee voted to return $6 million in revenue sharing that was cut from the fiscal year 2010 budget. Orono’s share, Cain told the council, should work out to $69,000 more than the town originally was expecting.
Still, she said, the town should brace for a $500,000 decrease in state funding, after a year in which the town faced $400,000 less in revenue sharing from the state.
The decline in state revenues seems to have bottomed out, Cain added.
“In this past month we saw a $51 million increase which sent almost $2 million back to municipalities through the natural ebb and flow of revenue sharing,” said the third-term Democrat. “We’re all certainly hoping in the next 12 months we will continue to see at least a flat-lining of those revenues and hopefully not an addi-tional significant drop.”
The news Cain delivered about funding for kindergarten through grade 12 — Orono participates in Regional School Unit 26 with Veazie and Glenburn — also was mixed. RSU 26 will receive an additional $133,000 from the state after Gov. John Baldacci announced last week he was adding $20 million to the general purpose aid fund for schools.
However, Cain said there is great concern at the state level for school budgets in the next two years, when the funding boost provided by the federal economic stimulus will end.
“I’m glad the state has been in investing in K-12 education but the reality is, we’ve been doing it without raising broad-based taxes at the state level,” Cain said. “I don’t know how we can sustain into the next [two-year budget cycle], unless there’s a miracle in the state revenues, without looking at the way we fund schools at the state level.”
In order to allow schools and districts more time to find one-time uses for stimulus funds and also do long-term planning, Cain said the state has suspended a statute restricting districts from carrying more than 3 percent of their budget from one year to the next. The statute has been suspended through FY13.
Also on Monday, councilors voted in favor of zoning changes, provisions for the transfer of town property to the RSU, and approved a one-year trial online registration program for the town’s recreation department. The program, which will allow users to sign up and pay for activities through a Web site, will cost the town an es-timated $3,400 and will be managed through Camden National Bank.
The town also approved liquor, victualer’s and amusement permits for Jim Bence, who recently bought the Bear Brew Pub on Main Street. Bence said because of the cleanup needed in the building he probably wouldn’t be open until April 1 at the earliest, more than two weeks later than he first thought.