In a recent Superintendent Blog, Heather Perry updated the public about the critical work of the Gorham Fiscal Sustainability Committee.
This committee was jointly established by the Gorham Town Council and the Gorham School Committee over a year ago as a result of public concerns about the town budget. It aims to understand the existing financial landscape for the town and the Gorham School Department, evaluate the future economic landscape, and use this knowledge to make recommendations for maintaining sustainable taxes while managing our community’s present and future growth over the next 5-10 years.
Specifically, the committee is tasked to “deliver” the following:
1. The development of a series of recommendations to the Town Council and the School Committee for how to reduce costs (or mitigate continued cost increases).
2. The development of a series of recommendations to the Town Council and School Committee for how to increase revenues that will offset direct taxpayer expenses at both the municipal and school levels.
3. The development of a series of recommendations to the Town Council and School Committee for how to improve communications between various stakeholder groups within the community of Gorham to aid in understanding current and future financial limitations moving forward.
The following are members of this joint committee: Professional Facilitator: Craig Freshly, Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak, Superintendent of Schools Heather Perry, School Committee members, Michelle Littlefield and Jennifer Whitehouse, Town Council members, Rob Lavoie and Lou Simms, Planning Board member, William Benson, GEDC member, Sarah Jackson, Parents, Aaron Carlson and Christy Damon, Community members, George Fox and Susan Sato, business owners, Susan Coyne and Chris Kelly, Narragansett Principal Erin Eppler, Facilities and Transportation director Norm Justice and town department head Thomas Bernier.
The Committee has been meeting since April 2024 to complete this work and has made significant progress.
After learning about the historical spending and revenue trends of the schools and the municipality, the group has begun to focus on developing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for the community. These KPIs would monitor the relative “health” of our expenditures and revenue streams to accomplish the first two items on the task list. The committee has also begun discussing developing a comprehensive communications plan and what that might look like to address the third assigned task.
The work is really beginning to take shape, and Superintendent Perry encourages the public to follow its progress. To do so, go to the town’s website for the overview page, which provides agendas, minutes, and meeting schedules.
Once you have the dates for the meetings already held, you can also view the video recordings of those sessions.
The group’s next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2025, at 6 p.m. Three more sessions are planned for Feb. 10, March 10, and April 14, 2025. All meetings begin at 6 p.m. and are held in the downstairs conference room at the Gorham Municipal Center. They are open to the public and recorded as well.