On Monday, April 22, Gorham held its inaugural meeting of the newly formed Fiscal Sustainability Committee. The concept and makeup of the committee was developed collaboratively by the Gorham School Committee and Town Council after last summer’s budget approval difficulties. The volunteer committee’s purpose is “To understand the existing financial landscape for the Town of Gorham and the Gorham School Department, to evaluate the future financial landscape, and to use this knowledge to make recommendations for how to maintain sustainable taxes while continuing to manage the present and future growth of our community over the next 5-10 years.”
The committee is composed of an impressive group of school and town leaders, personnel, and community members representing various sectors. The 17-member committee will be guided in their work by Craig Freshley, a seasoned municipal facilitator in Maine, working on behalf of the national organization, Strategic Government Resources.
During the first meeting, the group identified their individual roles, experience, and interest in the work. Superintendent Heather Perry and Town manager Ephrem Paraschak kicked things off with a bit of background before introducing Freshley. Perry acknowledged that the school budget makes up approximately 68% of the overall municipal budget, but they both “share the common goal of figuring out how Gorham is going to continue to grow [with] a balanced and fiscally sound approach.”
Paraschak shared his hope that the committee would help create “at minimum a better understanding how we get from point A to point B in our daily operations and then what the future of Gorham looks like.”
Led by Freshley, the committee reviewed their purpose, deliverables, and guidelines, and developed a timeline and sequence by which they will tackle the work. Through a brainstorming activity, the creation of an “information needed” wall, and much discussion, the group identified data and background that is needed by the group to better understand the current state of Gorham, and from this determined the agenda for their next meeting, which will be held on Monday, May 20.
During the meeting, the committee will review specific comprehensive plans, growth patterns; demographics to include human, school based, business, and housing types; departments and decision making processes; contract constraints; and the state education funding formula. The hope is that by the fifth meeting this fall, the group will have examined Gorham’s current state, national best practices, and be ready to begin creating recommendations to be considered and adopted by the town.
All meetings will be made transparent to Gorham residents, who are welcome to attend the monthly meetings, watch on GoCat on demand, and all documents from the meetings will be made publicly available on the Town’s website. The public is invited to share their respectful and solutions focused comments or suggestions at any point through the yearlong process by emailing fiscalsustainabilitycommittee@gorham.me.us. Emails will be acknowledged but will not be used for answering questions.
In addition, a dynamic document of questions asked by committee members throughout the process will be publicly available on the town’s website, along with the corresponding answers.