EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Residents will have a third opportunity to vote on a proposed $4.02 million school budget, this one about $9,400 larger than the last one they saw, during a validation referendum held Tuesday, officials said.
Ninety-nine residents who attended a town meeting Thursday voted to approve the 29 articles, all by heavy majorities, according to town records.
Selectmen who have been critical of the school’s budget process have said the 2014-15 school budget, if it passes, would help increase the town’s mill rate from $21.93 per thousand of valuation to about $37 this year.
The bulk of the increase would come from Great Northern Paper Co. LLC continuing to fail to pay its overdue property taxes. The town is owed $657,900 by Great Northern Paper, plus interest and expenses, for the 2013-14 fiscal year, which ended on June 30. A $27 mill rate would result if GNP paid its overdue taxes.
Superintendent of Schools Quenten Clark said he hoped the third budget would pass. Two previous budgets passed in town meetings only to be defeated at the polls by a healthy margin.
“It is discouraging on behalf of the school,” Clark said Friday of the rejections at the polls. “We are trying to go forward here. I have a million different things to attend to [rather than the budget]. It is demoralizing.”
Tuesday’s referendum will be held at the town office. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., officials said. It follows an Aug. 7 referendum that shot down a $4.01 million budget, with 112 voters in favor and 264 opposed, according to election results. Voters also rejected a then $4.2 million school budget by a 246-145 vote on July 10.
Clark attributed the $9,400 increase to expenses that grew slightly at the start of the 2014-15 school year this month. About $4,000 in revenue will be lost because of the loss of two months rent from a private education firm renting space at Schenck High School. The special-needs student service was delayed by ongoing school renovations.
A $27 mill rate would mean owners of $50,000 properties would pay $1,350 in property taxes this year instead of $1,096.
A $37 mill rate would leave owners of $50,000 homes paying $1,850 this year, or $754 more than they paid in 2013-14. By comparison, the statewide average adjusted property tax rate was $13.99 in 2012, the most recent year statewide figures were available.