SCARBOROUGH Following Tuesday’s public vote the third time local voters have hit the polls on the topic since May the Scarborough School Department at last has a final budget for the 2013-2014 school year.
According to Town Clerk Tody Justice, 999 voters said yes to an allocation plan for $788,755 in additional state funds received after the $38.8 million operating budget was approved June 11. About half as many residents, 472, said no.
The budget amendment applies $520,283 to teacher retirement obligations, a cost previously borne on the state level. The money covers a similar amount, $623,500, carved from the school budget by town councilors in April on the bet that the state Legislature would not go along with the governor’s plan to shift responsibility to the local level.
The remainder of the new money $267,775 was put toward property tax relief. By using those dollars to lower the need from taxation to support Scarborough’s $70.94 million budget to $53.96 million, the council expects to lower the tax rate 8 cents, to $14.80 per $1,000 of valuation an increase of $1, or 7.23 percent, over last year.
That means the median single-family home in Scarborough, assessed at $300,000, can now expect a property tax increase of $300, instead of $324.
Tuesday’s voter turnout fell far short of traffic at the polls June 11, when 18 percent of Scarborough residents OK’d the previous spending plan, 1,490-1,332. That was a town record for the number of people weighing in on a school budget, as a lone ballot question, since the new public validation process was launched in 2008.
The heavy turnout was sparked by the initial vote on May 14, when a virtually identical budget, a mere $54,000 larger than the one ultimately approved, was rejected, 898-643.
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