LAGRANGE, Maine — Voters from the six towns of SAU 31 agreed during a special referendum Tuesday to assume the burden of a $1.1 million loan needed to save the school unit from a financial crisis caused by leaders’ mismanagement and lack of oversight.
Residents of Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield and Passadumkeag favored accepting the five-year Maine Municipal Bond Bank loan, and its 2 percent interest rate, by a 606-127 vote, according to totals released from the school system’s headquarters on Wednesday.
Exactly how much in new taxes the loan will cost the towns is impossible to predict at this point, Superintendent Michael Wright said.
“This just becomes one of many variables in next year’s budget,” Wright said Wednesday. “In public meetings I have shown how we will offset the cost of the loan through some of the cuts we have made and will continue to carry over into next year.”
School officials hope to carry through about $500,000 in cuts made last year and expect a state subsidy increase of about $100,000 this year, Wright said. They continue to examine potential savings through staff reductions such as retirements and hope that any tax increases created by the loan will be minimal.
Wednesday’s referendum followed a meeting on Jan. 10 in which district residents voted 304-30 at Hichborn Middle School in Howland to approve the loan. State law and the loan requirements demanded a districtwide referendum after a district meeting.
Wright discovered the mismanagement after SAU 31 merged with his SAU 41 last summer. A review of SAU 31′s records revealed, Wright said, that school leaders gradually had created the deficit by projecting revenues from undesignated fund balances that never actually occurred.
The bond bank’s executive director, Robert O. Lenna, credited school leaders with dealing adroitly with the financial miscues when he announced the bank’s tentative loan deal on Dec. 5.
Besides Wright becoming superintendent and the layoff of 14 ed techs and three maintenance workers, the school district has a new business manager and appointed new board leadership.
Howland voted in favor of the loan 221-37; Enfield, 240-29; Maxfield, 15-7; Burlington, 40-35; Passadumkeag, 57-14; and Edinburg, 33-5, according to Wright.
“It is an overwhelming statement about the support of the communities for their schools. We received a positive response in each town,” he said.
how can you “bail”something out” that your supposed to pay for in the beginning? Like my wife and I voted to pay off our credit card debt.
It is unfortunate that the FORMER superintendent or acting superintendent and business manager couldn’t be prosecuted for this mismanagement. I hope their names have been submitted to the State so they won’t get to run any other district.
Schools here should be run like they are in Canada _ NO DEBT – period. The school boards in Canada can run no defict. What they bring in and what they spend must be equal when it come to the end of the year. Why don’t we adopt that mantality?
Schools were fine state wide from the time they were built in Maine until the state took them over. Maine doles out the money haphazardly, it is time for the towns and cities to take them back, the grand experiment is over. The state certified the Superintendent who fumbled this.