LINCOLN, Maine — The Department of Education has tentatively approved the school district’s application for funding to cover part of a $700,000 repair to the roof at Mattanawcook Academy, officials said Friday.
The roof needs to be upgraded to meet state load-bearing requirements. It would get a new steel overlay, new decking, insulation and a rubber membrane if the school board accepts the funding, said David Ham, RSU 67’s facilities director.
“It would be a real stretch to fund this project on our own,” RSU 67 Superintendent Keith Laser said Friday.
The amount of state funding RSU 67 will get from the Department of Education’s revolving renovation fund is as yet undetermined, Laser said. School officials expect to find out by late February.
The fund usually covers as much as 73 percent of a total cost of a given project, Laser said. RSU 67 might qualify for less.
The timing of the work, Laser said, is not great. With the closing of the Lincoln Paper and Tissue LLC mill, officials must offset the loss of about $570,000 in property taxes annually. That’s about 7 percent of the town’s tax base, officials have said.
Boston-based Gordon Brothers Group closed its $5.95 million purchase of the mill Wednesday and hopes a “strategic operator” still could restart it.
Town officials have expressed confidence that an approximately $500,000 budget cut two years ago has prepared them for the mill shutdown, but they said they cannot yet account for the expected decrease in tax revenues from former mill workers.
Town officials set a new mill rate in October of $22.20 per $1,000 in property valuation. That’s 20 cents lower than the $22.40 rate of the 2014-15 fiscal year and 76 cents lower than the previous year’s $22.96 tax rate.
The mill is the town’s third-largest employer and second-largest taxpayer. The town’s top taxpayer, Evergreen Wind Power, pays $1.3 million in taxes. Emera Maine, the town’s third-highest taxpayer, pays $153,155. Wal-Mart pays $72,136, and Gardner Land Co. pays $60,952 annually, officials have said.
RSU 67 employs 310 people. Penobscot Valley Hospital employs 223 workers. The mill employed 179 workers before layoffs began. Presently it employs only a handful of workers maintaining it in case a strategic operator comes forward.
Another potential issue: The enrollment of the school system, which serves Chester, Lincoln and Mattawamkeag, has declined by about 75 students over the last two years. The drop could adversely affect state funding, and more students could leave the system with the mill closure, Laser said.
The school system had 1,012 students enrolled at Ella P. Burr Elementary, Mattanawcook Junior High and the academy as of Friday.
The roofs at Burr and the junior high will need rubber membrane replacement in the next three to five years. The replacements would cost about $150,000 to $200,000 each, Ham said.
If the school board accepts the revolving renovation money for the high school, it would have to repair the roof in 18 months, Laser said.
The board meets 7 p.m. Wednesday at the high school.