Council and Warrant Committee Discuss Bar Harbor's Proposed School Budget
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BAR HARBOR—School Superintendent Mike Zboray, Conners Emerson Principal Dr. Heather Weir Webster, and AOS Business Manager Nancy Thurlow presented the Conners Emerson budget to town councilors and warrant committee members, January 28.
Zboray handed out a budget fact sheet that detailed each piece of the budget that would be on the warrant. He commended Dr. Webster and Vice Principal Mike Fournier for keeping the budget down.
“It shows,” Councilor Earl Brechlin said of the efforts with the budget.
Depending on the state subsidy, the proposed school budget increases by $479,828, or 6.31% to $8,085,301 or it could be a more modest increase of $389,828, or 5.13% to $7,995,301.
That state subsidy amount is not yet a sure thing. It could be as high as $847,000. The budget is calculating a more conservative $825,000 which is $90,000 more than the originally figured $735,000. The Conners Emerson School Board has not yet approved the reduced budget due to the higher than expected state subsidy.
“They came out last night and the number from the state for Bar Harbor was $847,560,” Zboray said. “The governor’s budget hasn’t gone to the legislature yet.”
For that reason, Zboray and Thurlow chose the lower number.
The budget discussed did not included the high school budget.
Special education increases 9.89% to $2,189,963. This covers special education and related therapists.
Regular instruction, increases to $3,811,650, a 3.43% increase. This covers teachers’ salaries for regular education and specials, equipment, supplies, and books.
Student and support staff also increases by just under 10% to $1,016,591. This covers the guidance counselor, school nurse, and the school’s share of district-level curriculum and tech support, classroom, library, and technology.
System administration jumps up 21.32% to $280,078. This covers the Bar Harbor school’s share of the AOS 91 central office, school board stipends, legal and audit fees. The AOS budget was approved by 26 voters last week. Zboray said much of the increase is a proposed human resources position.
”The AOS budget overall is about 1.4% of the overall Bar Harbor budget,” Zboray said.
Food expenditures have decreased by $5,000 to $85,000. The switch out of Covid-style serving has been exciting, Dr. Webster said. Brechlin wanted a more detailed breakdown of that aspect of the budget. Dr. Webster said she would send that detail as well.
Carryover from last year’s budget accounts for $570,704.
“That helps offset taxes,” Zboray said. That comes from insurance changes and staff changes that happen over the course of the year.
The current tax rate is $10.04. The proposed rate is $10.71. For a property owner with a median home value of $522,350, the total annual tax would be $5,597 a year. That is an increase of $352 this year. The total proposed budget is approximately $28.2 million.
The budget presented also does not include the bond for the school’s construction, which is in a separate part of the budget. Voters approved that bond in 2023.
Foundation work is continuing with the zones closest to the Conners building almost complete.
“Zones 3 and 4 (by Shady Oaks and Emerson) should be finished by mid-February. After the foundation work, steel beams start to be erected. They are also probing the driveway area and near Emerson,” according to the Conners Emerson newsletter TigerTalk.
WARRANT COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP
The Bar Harbor Warrant Committee elected a vice chair prior to entering the joint session with the town council.
Brooke Blomquist, Bob Chaplin, and Julie Berberian were absent at the six p.m. meeting. Carol Chappell nominated Berberian who was not there to be vice chair. She was unanimously voted in. There were no other nominations in the eight-minute meeting. Berberian had previously served as vice chair on the committee. In 2024, she stepped aside for Meg Kelly to take the position. Kelly was appointed to the Bar Harbor Town Council last week to fill a spot vacated by a resigning councilor. She can not serve on both bodies at once.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
https://www.barharbormaine.gov/273/Warrant-Committee
https://www.townhallstreams.com/stream.php?location_id=37&id=64396
Budget Workshops
Joint meetings of the Town Council and Warrant Committee for detailed presentation of the proposed budget, and opportunity to ask questions. All at 6:30 p.m. in the Municipal Building Council Chambers.
January 30 - Discussion of outside agency requests
Disclosure: Shaun Farrar is an elected member of the warrant committee. Because of that, he hasn’t proofread this article. Please be kind if I have a lot of typos. We are just a team of two over here on the best of days. Also, let me add the disclosure that I did last year: Although we are married, we do not always think the same way on all things and we have entirely different brains.
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