Town Appropriation to Proposed School Budget Increases 10.25%
All of Bar Harbor's Elected Bodies Converge to Talk School Budget
BAR HARBOR—The Conners-Emerson budget is now projected at a 5.70% increase in total revenue and 10.25% in total appropriation. It calls for the town raising $7,605,474 explained School Superintendent Michael Zboray at a joint budget meeting of the Bar Harbor Town Council and Warrant Committee. Members of the School Committee also attended. The fiscal year runs from July of the year through to the next July.
The town had expected to receive between $645,000 and $650,000 from the state for the school’s proposed $8,805,537 budget. Instead, it received $735,000.
To pull it out of paragraph form, the budget calls for:
· Raising a total $8,805,537 in total revenues
· Raising $7,605,474 from town appropriations via property taxes
· 5.70% increase in total revenues
· 10.25% coming from town appropriation via property taxes
Last year’s budget was $8,330,965 for total revenues, so it’s a $474,572 increase.
Reasons for the increases are mostly due to contract obligations to staff and teachers, an increase of $127,372 or 15.98%. Long-term substitute pay rates have also increased as have staff absences. One day in November, 15 teachers were out.
Bar Harbor’s portion of the shared cost for AOS (the school system) licenses and support line for technology has a 75.03% increase, a total of $48,767 more than last year’s budget of $65,000, bringing the total up to $113,767. Cybersecurity is also a big concern, Zboray said, and is part of those costs. Schools, he said, are targets for hackers.
The Bar Harbor share of the AOS budget, which was approved Wednesday night, is 22.52%. That percentage is based on the school population. The school is also negotiating a three-year bus contract and fuel increases. The school pays for the fuel. The bus company owns the busses and pays for the drivers.
“This is a very skinny CIP,” Conners Emerson Principal Dr. Heather Webster said, where they are looking at repairing instead of replacing. “With our excitement of our new school, we still have three years in our building.”
In June 2023, the town voters approved 1,005-502 a bond for up to $58 million for building a new school to replace the two ailing buildings that have had multiple issues in the last couple years including breaking boilers, water infiltration in multiple areas, roof leaks, and the library wall coming away from the foundation. Classrooms are overcrowded and some staff uses closets for offices.
It’s predicted that the bond will be paid off in 2049, including over $31 million in interest payments, the total cost is $90.1 million if fundraising doesn’t offset some of the costs.
Webster said the new building’s floor plans are complete and signed off on. Construction is targeted to begin this summer. The school is expected to open in the fall of 2026.
“We’re in the need it want it phase,” Webster said of the current school budget’s appropriations for the present buildings’ expenses. They only get things they absolutely need, she said, and preferably those things can also be used in the new building. She said they’re being fiscally conservative in what they’re putting into the new building. The furniture cost is the same as it was last year at $5,000. Computer and technology costs have decreased.
On Monday the Warrant Committee and Town Council will discuss outside agency requests from the town. That begins at 6:30 p.m. and is at the Council Chambers.
BUDGET TIMELINE
The budget first goes to the Town Council and Warrant Committee. Recommendations are made. The final budget is approved by voters in June. The budget in discussion is FY2025, which runs from the beginning of July 2024 until June 30, 2025.
Disclosure: My husband and Bar Harbor Story writer is on the town’s Warrant Committee. We are not the same person and often have very different opinions on many things.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
The school’s proposed budget is here.
The town’s budget documents are here.
To watch the discussion, click here.
The Conners-Emerson Building for the Future project is here.
All budget questions from the public can be sent to Town Manager James Smith. His email is jsmith@barharbormaine.gov.