The South Portland City Council was set to hold a public hearing on the proposed new combined fiscal year budget of $98.2 million this week, which could raise the tax rate by 53 cents per $1,000 of valuation.
The hearing, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, was held after the Current’s print deadline, but last week, at a special meeting, the South Portland Board of Education passed the superintendent’s proposed $47.8 million spending package with few alterations.
Both school and municipal spending is up compared to this year’s budget, and both Superintendent of Schools Ken Kunin and City Manager Jim Gailey have attributed most of the increase to personnel costs, including several new positions on both the school and city side.
The school budget is up 2.8 percent from the current spending package of $46.1 million and the proposed municipal budget of nearly $32.6 million is an increase of $1.2 million from this year’s spending package of $31.3 million, Gailey said in his budget message to the City Council.
Overall, if the new combined budget is approved, along with the city’s share of county taxes, South Portland’s property tax rate could increase from $17.40 per $1,000 of valuation to a total of $17.93.
The City Council will hold a final vote on the school and municipal budgets later this spring and then residents will get the final say on the school spending package during a June referendum.
The school board approved the new school budget during a meeting on March 31, at which Dick Matthews, board chairman, called it “responsible” and “probably one of the best budgets I’ve seen in a long time.”
Board members also expressed thankfulness that this year’s budget process has been relatively painless, so far, with no controversy arising regarding the school spending proposal.
“I’m actually glad there’s no pain. It makes it a little more pleasant to be a school board member,” Matthews added.
However, the overall tax increase on the school side is subject to change, according to Rafe Forland, the school district’s finance director, since the school department is still unsure what the health insurance rate increase will be.
Some noteworthy changes from this year’s school budget is the addition of one ed tech and one full-time teacher to accommodate the growing number of English language learner students in South Portland.
At a prior meeting, Assistant Superintendent Kathy Germani told the school board that there are 62 students in need of English language services at the two middle schools and that there are a total of nine English language learner classes being offered at the high school this academic year.
Germani said the number of students projected to need such services next year is virtually the same, with Arabic students seen as the “neediest population, in terms of numbers.”
In terms of new positions on the city side, Gailey is recommending the council approve the creation of a new recreation superintendent position, as well as hiring a new laborer for public works and a part-time safety coordinator.
Sun Media Wire staff writer Alex Acquisto contributed to this report.
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