MILLINOCKET, Maine — Town and school leaders hope that a meeting between their attorneys will determine whether the school department or town government will get a second $158,000 hardship allocation from the state and thereby possibly keep school officials from suing the town.
That was the agreement made by both sides after a Millinocket School Committee meeting at Stearns High School on Tuesday. No meeting date between the lawyers has been set.
The Town Council and committee met at committee Chairman Kevin Gregory’s request to clear the air between the governing bodies, but Millinocket Town Council Chairman John Davis said he was still unsure whether school leaders would refrain from filing a lawsuit.
The lawsuit threat “does not appear to be [on the table], but they were a little unclear,” Davis said after the meeting. “I don’t know.”
Gregory and school Superintendent Kenneth Smith said early in the meeting that school officials never threatened to sue the town for the money, to which they believe the schools are entitled under state law, but Gregory and committee member Michael Jewers appeared to contradict those statements later.
“If it comes to a point,” Jewers said at the meeting, “where neither lawyer can agree [who should get the money], then we have to go higher. This has to be settled.”
And when asked after the meeting whether there was any chance the school committee would sue the town government, Gregory said: “I don’t know. It depends on the lawyers.”
Davis said he heard the same basic message from Gregory when he discussed the matter with him on Wednesday. “It really comes down to what the lawyers say,” Davis said.
The state last year approved a $158,000 Sudden and Severe Impact payment to the schools when the Millinocket mill was devalued under the ownership of Brookfield Asset Management of Toronto.
Town Manager Eugene Conlogue said Wednesday that the school department seeks to receive an additional $158,000 in Sudden and Severe Impact funds that were approved by the state because of a second drop in valuation at the mill.
Sudden and Severe Impact funds become available when a community suffers a significant loss in taxable value. Over the past year, the town has lost more than $96 million in taxable value from its paper mill, Conlogue said.
The last $20 million drop in taxable value occurred as the result of negotiations on the sale of the mill to Cate Street Capital in August. This additional value loss created the additional $158,000 in Sudden and Severe Impact funds because property taxes originally expected as part of the school budget were reduced again, Conlogue explained.
School officials believe they are entitled to both $158,000 payments, but town leaders say that the second $158,000 in Sudden and Severe Impact funds simply replaces the lost property taxes and, therefore, no additional funds are due to the school.
“S&SI funds are replacement monies, not new monies. The only change is a dollar-for-dollar change between two revenue lines,” Conlogue said. “What people need to know is that there is no net change in school revenues and absolutely no change in planned expenditures.”
During Tuesday night’s meeting, councilors and committee members made clear that both sides face deep financial stresses. Town government and the school system both endure declining state and federal aid, populations and enrollments; the need to raise taxes or cut services; and continually rising costs.
Councilors and committee members have been cutting or maintaining zero-growth budgets annually for at least the last six years and said they loathe the idea of increasing the burden on taxpayers. Both sides agreed they want the best school system possible.
“This town is in dire straits right now,” Councilor John Raymond said at the meeting. “We came very close to bankruptcy and if it wasn’t for the sale of the mill, we probably would be in bankruptcy.”
The school committee cut more than $1 million from its $7.5 million budget over the last few years, Gregory responded, asking, “Do you know how hard that was to do?”
Smith said the school department does not face a $150,000 shortfall originally estimated by former School Committee Chairman Arnold Hopkins before he abruptly resigned his position last month.
“Right now we do not have a shortfall. We are doing everything we can to avert a shortfall. Right now we are not planning on a shortfall,” Smith said.
“We are trying very hard to keep people employed and not do something irrational,” he added.
Davis said he wondered why school leaders would want the $158,000 if they weren’t anticipating a shortfall.
“If there isn’t a shortfall there, then I am a little surprised that they would want to carry that over as a surplus instead of the town applying it to the mill rate now,” Davis said. “But we had a good meeting. I came out of there feeling pretty good that we had our issues addressed.”
If neither the Schools or the Town have the money; how will they pay for lawyers to sue one another. Does this make sense to anyone?
well our taxes will have to go back up 200 more for what the kids didnt get any mmm. i agree with you
i thought there was a freeze on spending. big vacum in the offices lol
It seems like the property taxes are already high in relation to the low appraised amount of the properties.
Mr. Smith says: “We are trying very hard to keep people employed and not do something irrational,” he added. Mr. Smith & School Board, it is not your job to keep people employed, while raising taxes on the towns people and cutting programs for the kids in the system. I think what you are doing is irrational.
Mr. Smith I don’t know who you think you are fooling (maybe your board) but you know a shortfall (the cliff) is coming or I should say has arrived in Millinocket. Why not be upfront and honest with them? Why do you want to continue your old ways, you know what it brings you.
In the end, they will all wish they had listened to Arnold Hopkins.
Mr. Smith has lied since the first day he arrived and the Board does nothing to stop it. Smith has to go and the School Board should resign. This is terrible for the town of Millinocket for the School Board suing us. The wasted money for the lawyers could be goint to the kids. Its time for the people of Millinocket to step up and stop this foolishness and take a recall vote. Its time for Smith to leave and start over. We have been in the paper more times than the President. Arnold Hopkins knew what was going on and Smith didn’t like it and Gregory and Dow stabbed Arnold in the back and now look who we have for a chairman.
It’s too bad the Medway School board feels the same way. Keeping teachers there that should not be teaching. Ones that can’t do their job, grade papers, lose papers especially from students whose parents that are most vocal about the things going on her class. Absolutely pathetic if you ask me but of course you didn’t did you?
What exactly does Medway have to offer East Millinocket? A school on monitor status with a SIP plan? East should be the one threatening to go to Lincoln.
Damnyou2 (SAS) Who is threatening?
It is really none of your business what another town does, you have enough problems of your own with your support for Quimby, how much did she pay or promise you.
I see no problems, it’s just getting started.
I think Mr. Gregory and his Board has old Mr. Corn Dog and the Council on the run. They don’t seem to be sounding off to much the last couple of days, not even the old wise one Mr. Madore. This is going to be good!!
That would be Mr. Madore, the wise one who is employed by the school?
I’ll tell you how they plan to pay for the lawyers: They will raise the mill rate.
I hope to God that everyone remembers this for every election until all of these tone-deaf, greedy hogs is voted off the school board and replaced with people who understand that it is the education they provide, not the money they take from the taxpayers, that matters.
I agree with you on this, but, if nobody runs against these clowns it will never change. It used to be the pillars of the community served on these boards, including the the town council. Now anybody with any brains, ie Hopkins, Pollstein, Mclean, Fanjoy etc.. are bullied off. So until they can get an intelligent majority on these boards we will be in this situation. Maybe it is time for a change in town government. (selectmen)
i think the governor should take over like in CANADA and consolidate schools and jeep hands out of the cooke jars .that the only way its going to happen.no school boards .its not the kids that have a problem
how about writing a check to the lawyers for 158k and get it over with.Stupidity at its finest.
well they do have Dean for a lawer
Point well taken!
keep
This is the classic “tail wagging the dog” affair.
The town is the HIGHER authority, and the council’s responsibilities include oversight of the school system in their town.
School districts all over the state seem to think that they are sacred cows and that their budgets should not be touched.
This scenario will be playing itself out in towns and cities all over Maine when budgets are tightened even more than they are now.
Welcome to the REAL world supt. Smith.
The members of the school board should be held financially culpable “when” their “law suit” fails..!
Another news story that shows the town of Millinocket as the laughing stock in our state of Maine!
They have bet the farm that the forest products industry alone will keep them running, it is not working. It looks like they may want to reconsider this.
The daily soap “As The Stomach Turns”
What is the longevity of the Sudden and Severe Impact Funds? Is this a one time shot or does it continue in some form over time according to a formula? In any event it’s a cushion not a solution. It would seem even short term there is not enough bucks in it to provide a cushion for a looming financial crash.
It is a one time shot in the arm that the state isn’t on the hook to pay until next year. The Katahdin region was promised, after the legislature voted not to give it this year, that we would have it this fiscal year. November was the first date that came and went. Then December, now no one is talking much at all about a possible date. It could be June, July or even next January before the money comes in if at all since the state wants the towns to pay for running Dolby.
I wonder where Mike Jewers thinks this money is coming from? By the time they sue (if) they may spend far more than $158,000. I wonder how much it will cost for Dean’s trip to Portlan to meet with the same lawyers the school is talking too and the town is already using in a lawsuit. Interesting conundrum
Why can’t Dean call them? Save travel time and expenses.
Well, like I say he is already involved with the lawsuit with the Retiree’s insurance which is waiting for a court date. The same firm representing the town in that case, is the one the school is talking too. Kind of interesting.
And everyone knows that Dean would never double bill.
Even more interesting, since he possibly will be representing the two on two issues. I would say, just his time. Though he will be talking to him in his capacity as the Towns lawyers with lawyers that are working with him on the case before the Maine Supreme Court, and the same firm is working with the School comm. and Dean is the Towns lawyers seems it would make it questionable on both firms? I always thought that is why we paid MMA for some of this, or maybe not. I wonder what account the school comm. will be pulling this out of?
And Millinocket’s school committee wonders why East and Medway don’t want to consolidate with them. The pettiness of the $158,000 shows why. It’s time for Millinocket to recognize that the mill is not running and may never.
I’ve heard that East and Medway are in talks with Lincoln and they are meeting on it tomorrow as a possiblity.
East is just keeping some of their problems quiet, for now. Well, I can not see East/Medway joining Lincoln, since from comments there school system is in such pristine shape.
Don’t you mean Millinocket? East is being pretty open about the lack of sudden and severe. Your superintendent is still touting that pipe dream and suing the town over money they haven’t even gotten yet. Where is Millinocket going to be without the sudden and severe money? Have they got a plan B? That is what this meeting is all about for East as well as planning for the future.
Not necessarily, for some reason they tend to concentrate on Millinocket’s problems. It is not just the Supt, it si the School board. Last evening one basically said they are going to what they have to do to get that money ( the money they have not even received yet) I do not think you want to hear about plan B, listen to the school board mtg. next time. Someone still has big dreams. Unfortuantly last week the accountant could not make it before the storm, this will tell us the real story. I am going to be interested what they have to say about the School.
they can do all they want but honestly how are they going to force the state to release that money a year early? The legislature voted to follow the letter of the law and make us wait a year for it like most other towns have had to when they had a huge decrease in taxes.
Then the question is if it comes this year what is going to happen next year?
From my understanding it is already approved to be released, all it needs is the say so. Curious if the negotiations with land fill might pose to the release of that money?
The meeting is to get some direction on where the school is heading. With declining enrollments, lack of tax money and a building that needs millions in repairs there are hard choices to be made. It isn’t just Lincoln they are looking at but Katahdin and Lee as well. Have to keep those options open. What kind of mess is Millinocket going to be in when the sudden a severe doesn’t come this year? East is being proactive about their situation.
Bruce no one said East schools were in pristine shape not by any stretch of the imagination are they. Both academically and physically they need work. We can admit that on this side of the Dolby Millinocket seems to be under the impression that they are acing everything and that is far from the truth. With talks of suing the town etc East Medway and Woodville are all breathing a sigh of relief that we aren’t in with them and their cockamamie ideas. Whose to say they wouldn’t be suing the other towns as well by now? No one wants to work with Millinocket and you can thank your school board and the administration for that. Whack-a-dooooos the whole lot of them.
Well I thnk it goes beyond that. This was going on before any talk of the Chinese happened. You would have to go back to some of prvious comments on your school system. Though sometimes it seems Medway runs your school board, since all we ever here is there chairman. Maybe if they had consolidated there woudln’t be so many idea’s going around. The sigh of relief is because the Education Comm. let you off the hook ( yea I know, someone will say they are slimly within the law, but in the law just the same). I have my opinion, and believe he let you get away with it,it was interesting that you had to wait for him to give his blessing.
Bruce, you can think what you want, but the fact is that Medway, East and Woodville are a complying school unit under the Law. By the way, we are also the smallest consolidated school unit in the state. Go Figure!!!
It really does not take a lot of figuring. I wonder of the Comm. of Education would of given his blessing if the new owners had jumped in before his approvl.
Bruce, how would you think his blessing would be linked to the new owners or the mills?
I do not believe he would of approved the union as it slimly is. It was a matter of money in East Millinocket which was loosing a good chunk of the tax base.
You may be right, but I think there were other factors as well.
Always other factors, still the same. Whether Millinocket or other need to get their heads on straight.
Where Smith’s all expense paid trip to China was a flop maybe he should pay the money back. I don’t imagine that was cheap! The school board should be held accountable also for spending the tuition money they hadn’t received yet.They were trying to save the school system and failed miserably.There’s an old saying “Don’t count your chickens until they hatch” holds true in this case!
The schools here are a joke, that is why I took my child out of Millinocket. There is no control of the kids. There focus is more on sports than education. Even worse is the Hospital, I think there should be a Federal Investigation into the practices at MRH. The CEO doesn’t have a clue, and works more from home than the hospital. I think thier may be some Medicare fraud. The community should demand so accountance for the poorly run Hospital. I would not take any of my family to that hospital. I would die before I would go to that hospital. Ask about the 15 y.o. that was tased by the police in the E.R. instead of just restraining him. Or ask about the Orthopedist who won’t let the nurse check his post-ops for infection when warranted, then sends that patient home. A week or so later the patient come back with a raging infection, and then the MD says they must of got it at home. These things are all swept under the rug. This town as a community should demand some answers.
What does MRH have to do with this story about town/school sueing each other?
So many times these comments get away from the subject
by the way,I think the hospital is great,they treated me really well
Must be Bath Salts !!
Pathetic…I didn’t even read the article. Just hearing that the school board could sue the town. Good thing they didn’t do the consolidation thing with neighboring towns a few years ago. They will never get along with anybody else. That’s too bad and a little embarrassing.
I’m amazed by all the people who have solutions for the school committees issues yet only two (2) people applied for the 5th position on the board. Two people? God Bless them for trying to make a difference. BTW the deadline has passed for applying. Still amazes me just 2 people.
I stand corrected….five (5) applicants…..ok so were you one of the 5 trying to make a difference?
On Dec 3 at a School Board meeting Hopkins stated that he estimated a shortfall of 140000+ and Smith said the shortfall was 150000+. Smith now,in this article, says there is no shortfall in the budget at this time. Does this mean that there was a shortfall or there will be a shortfall in the future. How can this happen? This uncertainty will only have a negative effect on our students and faculty/staff.