A referendum to approve the FY22 $44,268,143 Gorham School Department budget was the only item on the ballot when Gorham voters went to the polls on June 8.
At the June 1 meeting of the Town Council, councilors voted to reduce the budget submitted by the School Committee (SC) by $300,000, which resulted in a reduction in the proposed increase to 42 cents on the mil.
After the meeting the SC voted to reduce the Regular Instruction line by $100,000 and the Operations and Maintenance line by $200,000 to meet the mandate.
The School District is anticipating an increase in state subsidy of approximately $1.16 million. This would come from an additional subsidy proposed by Governor Janel Mills in the most recent biennial budget package. It would add $79 million to state funding for education in FY22 and even more in FY23.
The SC had proposed that all funds received from the extra FY22 allocation be used to reduce taxpayer expense, but the TC voted to put half of this money, approximately $580,000, into a capital reserve account. The other half would be used to lower the overall mil impact down to an increase of 5 cents.
The capital reserve account is created by the SC, and the committee can use it as it sees fit. However, after the SC votes to use some of this money, they need the approval of the Town Council to draw funds from the account.
After the TC meeting, Darryl Wright, SC chair, said that the SC thought they were making a good decision for the schools and the taxpayers when they voted to use all the anticipated funds to reduce taxpayer expense.
Look for the voting totals in our next paper, June 24, 2021.