Proposed Conners Emerson Budget Decreases
Students Make Thanksgiving Boxes
BAR HARBOR—Birthday celebrations and budgets dominated the Bar Harbor School Board’s meeting Monday night. There were no members of the public present and the board members took that time for public comment to sing happy birthday to Conners Emerson Principal Dr. Heather Webster before hearing about some quick updates and more work on the Conners Emerson budget.
Chair Lilea Simis, Superintendent Mike Zboray, Vice Chair Marie Yarborough, member Mike Kiers, member Misha Mytar, and Vice Principal Michael Fournier, attended.
After some tweaking, the budget for the school is now projected at a 5.77% increase in total revenue and 11.645% in total appropriation.
This was calculated by using preliminary 2023-2024 state subsidy numbers. The town is expected to receive between $645,000 and $650,000 from the state for its proposed $8,811,591 budget. That budget would require the town to raise $7,701,628. This is an increase of 11.64% compared to the last voter-approved fiscal year budget or $803,227 or the 12.12% increase from the last draft budget at the school board’s meeting earlier this month. The fiscal year runs from July of the year through to the next July.
To pull it out of paragraph form, the budget calls for:
· Raising a total $8,811,591 in total revenues
· Raising $7,701,628 from town appropriations
· 5.77% increase in total revenues
· 12.12% coming from town appropriation via property taxes
Last year’s budget was $8,330,965 for total revenues.
Reasons for the increases are mostly due to contract obligations to staff and teachers. Long-term substitute payrates have also increased as have staff absences. One day last month, 15 teachers were out.
“It was illnesses, strep throat, COVID, medical stuff,” Webster said. Though there were many absences during the COVID pandemic, the school had expected the number of absences to decrease. “We haven’t seen the declines we’d hoped for.”
The record for absences is 19 in one day.
During the tweaking between budget presentations, the AOS licensing and support line for technology has decreased, but is still a 83.8% increase, or $54,469 more than this year’s current budget of $65k. The infrastructure management group that AOS staff has found has helped decrease the proposed increase. They are still waiting for information from the tech team, Zboray said, to finalize those numbers. “I’m working on trying to massage that a bit more from the district office side.”
Cybersecurity is also a big concern, Zboray said, and is part of those costs, which are still being tweaked.
The board all expressed that they did not want the yearly school board stipend to members to increase.
Current Annual Stipends to School Board and Committee Members
Trenton: 750 chair, 500 member
Bar Harbor: 500 chair, 400 member
Mount Desert: 600 chair, 400 member
Southwest Harbor: Everyone receives 500
Tremont: 600 chair and members
The proposal had been to bump it up to $500 for each member and 600 to the chair.
“It probably comes out to 75 cents an hour,” Webster said.
“It could be spent somewhere else to help the kids,” Simis said.
Yarborough said that while she wasn’t comfortable with an increase, she could see how additional money could help future board members that might be less financially secure have the ability to pay for childcare while attending meetings.
Though it wasn’t mentioned at the meeting, there have been other Hancock County communities that have childcare accessible for parents who are also board members.
BUDGET TIMELINE
Jan 9 – School’s deadline to present budget to town
January 25 – Warrant and Town Council meet together to discuss budget
March 5 – Budget gets adopted by Town Council
March – Warrant Committee makes recommendations
March 26 – Town Council holds public hearing
June Town Meeting – Voters approve or disapprove the budget
OTHER UPDATES
Webster said that she met with the representative from Harriman’s about the new school’s technology and infrastructure. They will be meeting again on Friday.
The fundraising committee, which hopes to defray some of the tax payer’s debt burden for the multi-million dollar project to replace the old buildings, thinks that it would do well with some professional fundraising help, Simis said.
On that note, Webster said the surplus in this year’s kitchen budget, which has to be spent on improving the kitchen or related things, could be spent on items needed for the new school’s cafeteria and kitchen area in the new building and is likely to be about $175,000 to $200,000 in funds. Mytar asked if some of that money could be used for more varied vegetarian options at the school now.
Mytar also asked how donations occur. Simis said it all goes through the town’s Finance Director Sarah Gilbert, who she hopes to meet with again soon.
OTHER SCHOOL NEWS
Conners-Emerson students collected donations for Thanksgiving food baskets and helped construct and design the baskets. Those same baskets were loaded up this Sunday at the Bar Harbor Congregational church. They will be given out to food insecure families in the community.
Eighth graders interviewed voters at the town office to learn about the democratic process. Younger students attended a Chewonki presentation and fifth graders made 1,000 paper cranes for Lewiston to show support.
NEXT MEETING
Monday, December 4, 2023 at 4:30 p.m., Conner Emerson Library (off the Eagle Lake Road, the bottom level of the building closer to the road, entrance is off the parking area).
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
https://barharborstory.substack.com/p/draft-school-budget-proposes-6-overall
https://sites.google.com/mdirss.org/conners-emerson-school/tiger-talk-23-24