Voters in Windham, Raymond and Standish are set to weigh in on a host of candidates, bond issues and budgets in coming weeks.
On Saturday, June 13, at 10 a.m., at the Community Center Gym, the town of Windham will hold its annual town meeting. Participants will vote on the Town Council’s adopted budget, which hikes spending by 7 percent.
The council’s $15,579,836 budget would increase spending $1,027,100 compared to this year’s approved budget. The increase is driven primarily by the $52,210 restoration of a code enforcement officer position and a $566,150 increase in capital outlays primarily for road improvements – the realignment of the Anglers and Whites Bridge roads intersection, and engineering improvements along Route 302.
If approved, the budget would raise the municipal portion of the tax rate by 20 cents, to $4.70 per $1,000 of valuation.
The town may receive more revenues than projected in the manager’s proposed budget, which could in turn limit the size of the property tax increase. That’s because Town Manager Tony Plante intentionally underestimated the amount of municipal revenue sharing that is expected to arrive in the town’s coffers this year, due to the increasing unreliability of the program.
In fiscal year 2014, the town received $732,828 in municipal revenue sharing, and in the fiscal year 2015 budget the town projected $669,014 in revenue sharing. The council’s budget for fiscal year 2016 projects that the town will receive $325,000 in revenue sharing, even though he expects the town actually will receive around $700,000 in revenue sharing.
Immediately following the annual town meeting, there will be a special town meeting vote on a $1.67 million bond to fund the acquisition and development of the former Maine Cedar Log Homes manufacturing facility in order to convert it into the new home for the South Windham Fire Station. Including estimated long-term debt service, the special town meeting vote could lead to spending of approximately $2.19 million.
The 15-year-old, 13,000-square-foot warehouse facility, located at 37 Main St. and owned by Anania Investments, has been used for storage since 2013, when Maine Cedar Log Homes closed.
According to Plante, the anticipated acquisition cost is $700,000, while renovation costs will total about $777,000, construction and design costs $141,000, and paving costs $50,000. The estimated debt service on the bond is projected to total $526,000.
Raymond
At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 3, at the Jordan-Small Middle School gymnasium, Raymond voters were scheduled to weigh in on the Board of Selectmen’s adopted budget during the annual town meeting. The municipal budget would decrease spending 5.5 percent, while raising the municipal contribution to the property tax rate 8 percent, thanks to a large decline in surplus spending.
If approved, the proposed budget would raise the municipal portion of the tax rate by 19 cents to $2.62 per $1,000 of valuation.
The proposed $4.14 million budget represents a $238,813 decline in annual spending. Yet because of a $435,850 decline in non-property tax revenues, the budget would require a $194,734 increase in property tax collection.
This year’s budget used $428,500 from the town’s nearly $2.2 million surplus account for a series of one-time capital project expenditures, such as road improvements and the purchase of a new ambulance. The selectmen’s proposed budget for next year, however, would not spend any surplus funds. The elimination of surplus spending is the main cause of the decline in non-property tax revenues.
The town is also projecting a 1.7 percent decrease in state revenue sharing, from $130,470 to $128,728, as well as a 4.1 percent increase in excise taxes, from $780,000 to $812,000.
In the proposed budget, major spending hikes include a 37.5 percent increase for the Raymond Village Library, a 16.6 percent increase in liability and vehicle insurance, a 5.16 percent increase in administrative costs, and a 4.88 percent increase in payroll costs for the fire-rescue department. The budget also includes a 12.4 percent increase for the code enforcement department for the hiring of an assistant seasonal code enforcement officer.
The meeting was held after the Lakes Region Weekly print deadline.
On Tuesday, June 9, Raymond voters will select a new selectman, three members of the Budget-Finance Committee, and a member of the Regional School Unit 14 School Board. Voting takes place by secret ballot at Jordan-Small Middle School from 7 a.m.-8 p.m.
Former longtime town clerk Louise Lester is challenging longtime selectman Joe Bruno for a three-year term on the Board of Selectmen.
Debra Duchaine, Robert Gosselin and Willard O’Brien Richards are running for three available seats on the Budget-Finance Committee. Each term is for three years. While Duchaine and Gosselin are running for re-election, Richards will seek to replace Peter Dunn, who is stepping down from the committee.
Raymond resident Diana Froisland will also run uncontested for re-election to the Regional School Unit 14 school board.
On June 9, voters will also weigh in on one referendum question: “Do you want Raymond to continue the withdrawal process from RSU 14.” If Raymond residents vote in the affirmative, the withdrawal process that began last November will continue.
Standish
The Tuesday, June 9, ballot will include five referendum questions, including a $441,565 bond question that town officials say will facilitate the conversion of the Cargill lot on the western shore of Sebago Lake into a public beach.
The proposed bond – $397,386 in principal and $44,179 in interest payments – would fund the construction of a 1,200-foot access road from Harmon’s Beach Road and a series of right-of-way acquisitions to enable construction of the access road.
The Cargill lot beach is owned by the Portland Water District and is located in Lower Bay. The town plans to sign a 25-year lease with the district for the beach parcel and enlist the Pentagon’s Innovative Readiness Training labor assistance program in beach infrastructure construction efforts. The lease would cost the town $100 a year.
The beach bond – or Question 3 – is one of five bond questions on the June 9 referendum ballot that, if approved, would lead to $1.62 million in spending, including estimated debt service.
Question 1 would allocate $271,126 in spending toward the purchase of a new ambulance, a new pick-up truck and fire station renovations.
Question 2 would allocate $52,225 toward renovations at all of the town’s recreational facilities, as well as engineering work aimed at maximizing the use of recently acquired town land for recreational purposes.
Question 4 would allocate $50,403 toward the acquisition of garage column lifts for the public works department.
Question 5 would allocate $808,934 toward road improvements, including Harmon’s Beach Road, Saco Road and Ossipee Trail.
New rules imposing term limits will have an impact at the June 9 elections. Last November, a citizens’ petition that limits town councilors to a maximum of two consecutive, three-year terms passed in a 2,562-1,700 vote. As a result of the amendment, after serving either four successive years or two consecutive terms, councilors will have to wait three years in order to run again. The amendment does not impose a lifetime limit on council terms, however.
The term limits will force councilors Phil Pomerleau and Margaret Spencer from office. Isabel Higgins and Councilor Steven Nesbitt will face off in the race to replace Pomerleau in the three-year Area 1 council seat.
Meanwhile, Brian Libby, Bill Orr and Kimberly Pomerleau will face off to replace Spencer for a three-year term representing the town at-large.
Lester Ordway will run uncontested for a one-year at-large council seat, replacing Nesbitt, who was appointed to the seat last year for a one-year term.
For the Standish Planning Board, Michael Willette will run uncontested for election to retain his three-year seat representing Area 2. Cynthia Beckwith will run for a three-year at-large Planning Board seat that she now holds. Adam Higgins will challenge Beckwith.
In the race for the Standish representatives to the School Administrative District 6 Board of Directors, Robert Deakin, who was appointed to the board last year, will run uncontested for an at-large three-year seat. Amy Dunning-Stepnick and Paul Mosley will also compete for an at-large one-year-seat on the school board.
Ellen Kasprzyk and Phil Pomerleau are running for two respective three-year, at-large seats on the Budget Committee. Pomerleau and Kasprzyk, who was appointed to the committee until this summer, are set to replace Carolyn Brown and Ronald Richardson, who are not allowed to run this year due to term limits. Lowell Weeks is running for a one-year at-large seat on the budget committee to replace the opening left by Kasprzyk.
On June 13, Standish will hold its annual town meeting at 9 a.m. in the Town Council chambers. Voters will weigh in on the budget adopted by the council, which increases spending $456,762, or 5.9 percent, to $8,213,001.
If approved, the municipal portion of the tax rate would increase 7 cents, according to Town Manager Gordon Billington. The 5.9 percent increase in gross municipal expenditures will be offset by a $353,504 increase in non-property tax revenues, including increased excise tax revenues, medical reimbursements, and the use of surplus.
RSU 14
Windham voters will have the opportunity to weigh on in the Regional School Unit 14 budget from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. at Windham High School on June 9. Raymond voters will vote on the school budget from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. on June 9 at Jordan-Small Middle School.
The school board has recommended a budget that would increase district spending $1,034,855, or 2.52 percent.
The school board’s revised budget figure represents a $867,345 decrease in spending compared to Superintendent Sandy Prince’s proposed budget, which would have increased school district spending next year by $1,902,200, or about 4.63 percent.
The budget represents an estimated $106 tax increase for a $250,000 Windham home, and a $5 tax increase for a $250 Raymond home. According to School Board Chairwoman Marge Govoni, the state’s formula for calculating education aid is the primary driver of the discrepancy between the two towns.
Since the recession, class sizes have increased as the district has cut the equivalent of 71 staff positions, according to Prince. In order to reverse the trend of growing class sizes, the school board’s budget allocates $363,229 in new spending on staff hours and added or restored positions. The new spending on staff constitutes about 35 percent of the proposed budget increase. The budget also proposed the elimination of a Raymond Elementary School kindergarten teacher position and a Jordan-Small Middle School instructional interventionist position, representing a $59,970 spending cut.
The budget also would hire new full-time instructors and increases working hours across the district. New or restored positions would include a district-wide technology integrator, a social worker, high school volleyball and swim coaches, and two teachers at Windham Middle School. Teacher working hours would be increased at Jordan-Small Middle School and Windham High School, as well.
SAD 6
Standish voters will have an opportunity to weigh in on the School Administrative District 6 budget on June 9, from 6 a.m.-8 p.m. at the town office on 175 Northeast Road.
The $46,572,207 general fund budget approved by the SAD 6 Board of Directors represents a 2.08 percent budget increase. However, due to declining revenues and a shift in the state’s Essential Services and Programs formula, the budget represents an average 5.77 percent increase in local tax assessments, for a total of $1.3 million in local assessments.
In the budget, Standish contributes nearly $9.3 million, or 39 percent of the local tax assessments. The $563,255 increase compared with the town’s assessment last year represents a 6.48 percent increase.
For a $180,000 home in Standish, the budget would represent a $101 tax increase.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
