What is usually a pro forma vote in most communities has become a battleground in Scarborough, where some residents are urging voters to retain the annual school budget referendum and the council chairman is asking voters to put decisions on school spending back into the hands of the Town Council.
On June 14, like communities all across Maine, voters in Scarborough will be asked whether they wish to continue with the annual school budget validation referendum or allow the council to give final approval to each year’s school spending package instead.
The question is on the local ballot every three years, but this year a strong message is being sent to voters to reject the idea of returning control over school spending to the town’s legislative body.
Bill Donovan, the council chairman, told the Current this week that the community “should put its faith in the Town Council to judge what’s an appropriate (school) budget.”
Donovan argued that until relatively recently, the final decision on the school budget was always left to the council. He said that makes sense, given the number of hours councilors spend going through the budget and the “virtual impossibility of the average voter being fully informed.”
He added, “It makes sense to have the Town Council act as the overseer of the school budget, along with the town budget. The Town Council is independent of the school board and is a good representative of the public and what it wants.”
Donovan also said that if people don’t like the budget decisions being made by councilors, they can always replace them at election time.
“I just think both budgets should be handled in the same fashion,” he said.
However, outspoken local blogger and frequent Current columnist Steve Hanly disagreed.
He wants voters to reject the $47.5 million school budget and to vote in favor of keeping the annual budget vote. Hanly said this week that the “school budget referendum provides a critical check on the Town Council’s judgment as to what is a reasonable and affordable budget for all Scarborough taxpayers.”
He added, “School costs account for about two-thirds of each homeowner’s tax bill. And while everybody wants excellent schools, there is a balancing that needs to occur between school requests and taxpayer affordability. The best way to assure an appropriate balancing is through the annual school budget referendum, (which is) open to all citizens.”
Hanly also doesn’t think the Town Council should have final approval of the school budget because “over the last few years, (it) has had an abysmal record of accurately gauging voter sentiment.
“For at least the last three years, voters have rejected the initial school budget approved by the Town Council. Last year it took three votes to arrive at a final school budget. Clearly, the Town Council is not in tune with the majority of voters when it comes to the appropriate level of school (spending).”
Hanly also argued that the school budget vote each year has had a beneficial impact in terms of public scrutiny of school spending and voter participation in the process.
“Over the past several years, Scarborough’s voter participation rate has increased dramatically,” he said. “While many neighboring cities and towns have voter turnout in the 3 to 8 percent range for school budget votes, Scarborough’s turnout for the referendum in July of 2015 was 26 percent. This increasing citizen involvement is a healthy trend that should be encouraged rather than terminated.”
Hanly also said that this year’s budget process has been “very disappointing in terms of the failure of town leaders to meaningfully explain the significant factors driving the school budget and the negative implications for future budgets.”
John Frazier, another outspoken Scarborough resident, agreed. He said he’s concerned that the school budget does not stick to the overall 3 percent increase the Town Council initially asked for, but represents an increase in total spending of more than 5 percent.
“Over the past several years the annual property tax growth in Scarborough is substantially above the (cost of living) gains, (which) only makes the situation more difficult for those on pensions and limited incomes,” he said.
Frazier added that if residents “understood the issues and the associated consequences, I believe there would be far more individuals voting. Without a public vote on the school budget I am concerned that the Town Council will demonstrate less desire to hear from and to consider the concerns of the taxpayer.”
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