Tremont Select Board Sends Proposed School Budget Back for Adjustments
EMS Committee Moving Forward
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.
TREMONT—Tremont School Principal Jandrea True, Superintendent Mike Zboray, and AOS 91 Business Manager Nancy Thurlow presented the proposed FY25/26 Tremont School budget to the Tremont Select Board at Monday night’s meeting, February 10.
The FY25/26 budget as originally proposed is $5,365,303 which is a $561,002 or 11.68% increase over the FY24/25 budget of $4,804,301.
This increase equates to a proposed FY25/26 town appropriation of $4,642,315 which is a $475,588 or 11.41% increase over the FY24/25 town appropriation of $4,166,727.
While cutting services, programming, or positions seemed to not be a goal of the select board, the members were looking to trim some money from the proposed budget. During the initial budget presentation, True explained that in the facilities and maintenance section (warrant article 9) of the school’s proposed budget, there is $60,000 budgeted for continued work with Harriman Associates on school improvements and building projects.
True said that the school had “kind of pressed pause and slowed down” on working with Harriman and due to the number of issues that Harriman found during a building assessment, the school feels that it needs to move forward with some repairs and upgrades.
“How much have we already spent with Harriman?” asked select board member McKenzie Jewett.
True responded that they had spent “about $60,000.”
Nancy Thurlow said, “We have spent about $83,000 to date from when they started.”
That amount was spent over the year and a half to two years that the school has been talking with Harriman according to True.
“Isn’t it kind of hard, though . . . What are you going to plan for if you don’t even know who’s going to be in the school? This whole consolidation, or I mean, there has been some just crazy ideas I have heard that moving certain grades to certain schools and it’s kind of hard to plan for any sort of improvement isn’t it, until they get that ironed out?” said Select Board Chair Jamie Thurlow.
In a follow-up email, Jamie Thurlow said that the select board has received a lot of comments because taxes went up so quickly after last year’s reevaluation and “we have to try and keep it (the town’s budget) down the best we can.”
“Jandrea and I will be looking at both potential cuts and adjustments on the budget's revenue side,” said Zboray via email the day after the select board meeting.
EMS PLANNING COMMITTEE
Moving forward with the Southwest Harbor and Tremont EMS Planning Committee, the Tremont Select Board appointed four people to fill seats on the committee that is tasked with determining possible directions forward for the viability of the Southwest Harbor-Tremont Ambulance Service.
Financial and staffing shortages have led the ambulance service board of directors to believe that the only way for the service to survive and continue providing lifesaving services to the two towns is for the two towns to collaborate on how the service should be staffed and funded in the future.
On Monday, the select board unanimously appointed Town Manager Jesse Dunbar to fill the town manager seat for Tremont. Members also unanimously appointed Select Board Vice Chair McKenzie Jewett to fill the select board seat on the committee and appointed Fire Chief Keith Higgins and firefighter Heath Higgins to fill the town’s two fire department seats on the committee.
The town is looking for and will be advertising for interested town residents to fill a community member at large seat on the committee. Those interested in being a member of the committee and filling this position can contact Dunbar.
Remaining seats to be filled are Southwest Harbor Town Manager, Southwest Harbor Select Board member, two Southwest Harbor Fire Department members, a Southwest Harbor member at large, and two ambulance service seats. Because the ambulance service seats are specific to ambulance service members and not necessarily town residency, Dunbar and Southwest Harbor Town Manager Karen Reddersen will be meeting to figure out how to fill those seats from the four candidates suggested by the ambulance service’s board president.
FOOD RESOLUTION
A Climate to Thrive and the Tremont Sustainability Committee have been “working on the goals set forth in the Community Resilience Partnership grant from the State of Maine” according to Dunbar’s manager memo to the select board.
Together they have come up with a food resolution that “is in line with the Maine Food Sovereignty Act” that was passed in 2021 and is aimed at protecting the rights of residents to farm and fish, to produce and process their own food for personal use or sale and to be able to consume locally produced foods.
The select board unanimously voted to adopt the resolution entitled, Resolution to Protect the Health and Integrity of the Local Food System of the Town of Tremont.
FARMER’S MARKET
During discussions of the Tremont Sustainability Committee and work being done on the Community Resilience Plan and the food resolution, the idea of having a farmer’s market in Tremont has come up, according to Dunbar.
The nearest regularly scheduled farmer’s market in Southwest Harbor seems to be inconveniently timed for many residents and the traffic congestion caused by the location and the summer season make it hard for people who have to drive to the market attend.
According to Dunbar, Giulia Cardoso, who is a Tremont resident and runs a farmer’s market in Town Hill, is very interested in helping to start a farmer’s market in Tremont.
“There is little if any work involved on the part of the town,” said Dunbar.
Proposed locations for the farmer’s market are the Tremont School parking lot or the town office parking lot and the market is being proposed to occur on Sunday afternoons with the hopes that this will make it more accessible to Tremont residents. Dunbar was not asking for a motion or a vote by the select board but rather wanted to gauge interest in the idea.
“Sounds great to me,” said Thurlow. HE added, “I think it is a great idea and hopefully we can streamline the process a little bit so that it doesn’t have to be hung up for the planning board, etc.”
All of the select board members were enthusiastic and supportive of the idea and told Dunbar to proceed with further planning.
FIRE DEPARTMENT PICKUP TRUCK PURCHASE
The Tremont Fire Department has a 2014 Ford pickup truck with only 7,000 miles on it that firefighters were thinking of trading in to purchase a new one, but Fire Chief Keith Higgins wanted to make sure that the town did not want to purchase it and repurpose it for the harbor department because the harbor master does not have a town provided vehicle and uses his own often times. The fire department had been offered approximately $21,000 for the truck as a trade-in.
The select board quickly decided that rather than spending $21,000 on a vehicle for the harbor master, they would utilize one owned by the highway department that is rarely used.
The highway department has a Dodge Ram 2500 with a liftgate bed that is infrequently used by the highway employees and the select board unanimously passed a motion that this truck would now be for the primary use of the harbor master with the allowance that the highway department could use it with notice and availability depending on the harbor master’s needs.
CEMETERY TRUST FUND CERTIFICATE OF DEPOSIT
The town’s cemetery trust, which is used for maintenance and upkeep of town cemeteries is invested in a certificate of deposit which has matured. Only interest earnings and not the principal, are allowed to be spent. The fund’s principal balance of approximately $173,000 needs to be reinvested in a new CD and Dunbar had gotten some rates from the two local banks that the town uses, Bar Harbor Bank and Trust and First National (The First).
Bar Harbor Bank and Trust rates.
6-month CD – 4.15%
9-month CD – 4%
15-month CD – 3.75%
The First rates.
6-month CD – 4.35%
9-month CD – 4.2%
12-month CD – 4%
After a short amount of discussion regarding the potential changes in rates over time and all of the unknowns of the near future, the select board voted unanimously to direct Dunbar to place the principal balance for the cemetery fund into The First’s 12-month CD at a rate of 4%.
The next select board meeting is scheduled for February 24, 2025 at 5 p.m., at the town office.
Note: A more detailed proposed budget story will be forthcoming when the school returns to present the changes to the select board.
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