First Informational Forum Dates for High School Building Project Set
No Bar Harbor representation at this MDI Regional High School Board meeting; wastewater needs discussed
BAR HARBOR––At the Monday night meeting of the MDI Regional High School Board of Trustees, the trustees got one step closer to the trepidatious task of seeking an estimated $17 million bond from the contributing towns. The bond would finance the reconfiguration and modernization of the school’s science wing and library.
At its November 27, 2023 meeting, the board strategized about possible ways to reach out to the community members and town governments of the contributing towns to inform people of the need for the project. The board recognizes that many of the towns, especially Bar Harbor, are facing potentially high tax rate increases already due to local projects and rising costs. None of the three board members who represent Bar Harbor were at Monday night’s meeting.
The current contribution percentage rates and their corresponding share of $17 million for each town are below. These numbers could differ slightly due to the exact dollar amount of the bond and the contribution percentages changing because of enrollment numbers changing before the bond is sold.
Bar Harbor – 37.79% $6,424,300
Mount Desert – 35.6% $6,052,000
Southwest Harbor – 14.29% $2,429,300
Tremont – 12.32% $2,094,400
The first two forums will be held at the high school and will start with an informational session in the library that will be followed by attendees getting a tour of the library and science wing so that they may have a better understanding of the need for the changes. The forum dates are in February.
Tuesday, February 6, at 5 p.m.
Thursday, February 15, at 6 p.m.
Oak Point Associates (the engineers/architects for the building project) is also building a construction-project-based website and will be producing flyers for the purpose of educating the public regarding the high school’s building project. The website will be ready for preview by the trustees this week and should be online shortly thereafter.
Representatives from Oak Point will also accompany and support the Board of Trustees when they are doing community forums and presentations to councils and select boards and may be present at the forums to be held at the high school.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES BUDGET
The board also spoke about their budget and other upcoming projects. High School Principal Matt Haney said that the Board of Trustees has stuck with a 3% budget increase for the last 10-15 years and was wondering if board members thought that they might want to change that to 4 or 5% in upcoming budget cycles.
The reasoning behind this was that 3% is not keeping up with cost-of-living increases or other inflationary measures and the high school has at least one large price tag project coming up that they would like to be able to pay for out of their reserve funds. The majority of the board members appeared to agree with Haney’s logic and said that they should raise their yearly budget increase percentage. Bar Harbor’s draft budget currently proposes a 4.5% cost of living (COLA) adjustment.
The trustees’ budget is part of the overall high school budget and Haney cautioned that this year’s budget process is well underway and the board should probably wait until next year to increase that percentage. Haney said that if the board was to build the trustees’ budget around an increase that didn’t get approved, that money would have to made up from the educational side of the high school budget.
There are a couple of debt services and a large project approaching in future fiscal years. The trustees currently have a minor capital reserve fund of $1,589,409 and a budget of $776,498. With an estimated contribution from this year’s budget (FY 23/24) to next year’s budget (FY 24/25) of $601,763, the minor capital reserve would increase to an estimated $2,191,172.
During the 2025-26 fiscal year, the high school would like to replace the track which carries an estimated price tag of $3,000,000. Also, there are large debt service payments in fiscal years 2026-27 and 2027-28, both in the amount of $1,250,000.
There was no action taken on this agenda item at Monday night’s meeting.
WASTEWATER UPDATE
School Superintendent Mike Zboray gave a short update on the high school’s wastewater project and said that they have made some progress on the notice of violation originally received from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. MDOT said that the school must install an evaluation gauge and a flow meter in the system. These items have already been installed but the flow meter is not yet operational.
The school’s current wastewater disposal license expires in May of 2025 and currently shows Haley-Ward (the wastewater consulting firm) as the operators of the license because nobody at the school currently holds an active license. This license allows the school to continue to run the wastewater system as it is and to continue to spray the processed wastewater on the fields behind the high school.
Zboray said that there are a couple of other issues on the notice of violation that Haley-Ward is awaiting clarification from MDEP on to remediate if necessary.
Budget season is ramping up right now for most island towns, and Zboray thinks it would be a good idea to wait until March to start speaking with people regarding hooking the high school’s wastewater system into the Somesville wastewater treatment plant. Zboray also said that there are some questions regarding financing due to how the district is set up, but that the towns of Bar Harbor and Mount Desert would be the primary contributors.
Zboray said that there were questions about which towns should be included in the talks. Board member Tony Smith, of Mount Desert, said that he believes that all of the island towns should be included.
The price tag of hooking the high school’s wastewater system into the Somesville wastewater treatment plant is estimated to be around $10 million. Haney said that the goal is to have this project financed through grants and other external funding sources and not make it another taxpayer burden.
There was no action taken on this agenda item at Monday night’s meeting.
The next meeting of the MDI Regional High School Board of Trustee’s is scheduled for Monday, February 26. The meetings usually begin at 5:30 p.m. and take place in the high school library.
STUDENTS OF THE MONTH AND OTHER QUICK HIGH SCHOOL NEWS
COMMUNITY DANCE PARTY
Updated immediately after this post went out with the appropriate reporter. Shaun Farrar wrote this piece, not Carrie Jones. The default on Substack is Carrie and it failed to hold that switch. Apologies!