MADAWASKA, Maine — After two failed attempts at a 2015-16 school budget, the Madawaska School Committee hopes to leave its regular meeting next week with a proposal voters will approve.
“At the moment there is no final bottom line,” Bev Madore, Madawaska School Committee chairwoman, said Thursday. “The committee will decide on the final budget proposal on Monday.”
The committee will meet at 4 p.m. Monday in the superintendent’s conference room after members take the weekend to weigh several budget options, Madore said.
Attempts to reach the Madawaska School Department superintendent were not successful this week.
In June, voters in Madawaska approved a budget at the town meeting but failed to pass it at the subsequent referendum.
Earlier this month, a revised budget of $6.1 million also failed to pass at referendum after being approved at an August special town meeting.
“We were able to find an additional $77,000 in cuts,” Madore said. “We were able to get $66,000 by renegotiating some contracts and another $10,000 from an insurance claim from flooding at the elementary school.”
In July, voters turned down a $6,135,486 proposed budget that Madore said would have had a one mill effect on local property taxes.
The second proposal of $6,121,486 would have affected taxpayers by sixth-tenths of a mill, she said.
Local tax share on the proposed budgets was $390,912 in the first proposal and $304,954 in the second attempt.
With no solid figures finalized for the third attempt, Madore did say it is looking like a revised budget could also have a less than one mill effect.
“We are hoping it will pass at the town meeting and then people don’t go in private and vote ‘no’ at referendum,” she said. “I am really sad to see that our community does not value education more than that.”
Madore fears a great deal of negative information and misinformation around the town is contributing to the inability to pass a budget.
“The fact is, people are not coming in to get informed,” she said. “We have invited people to come in and attend [budget] workshops, and if we had two or three from the public, we were lucky.”
Leading up to the next proposal, Madore said the committee has discussed everything from cuts to athletics to reductions in band, field trips or advanced placement classes.
“But who does that punish?” she said. “It punishes the kids.”
