Orrington to fill five local posts Voters to consider $6.7 million school, municipal spending plan

ORRINGTON – Residents will fill five local positions and consider a $6.7 million budget for municipal, county and school operations during their annual elections and town meeting on June 3.

In elections for the Board of Selectmen, voters will fill one one-year position and two seats for three years. Ernest Fogg is seeking the remaining year of Doug Fogg’s unexpired term. Seeking the three-year posts are incumbent Selectman Melvin Coombs, former Selectman Howard Grover and Dain Bryant, a political newcomer.

Two three-year seats are open on the school committee. Candidates are incumbent Nancy Snyder and Judy Green, who is running for the seat now held by Jack Patrick. Patrick opted not to run this year.

The polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Town Hall. The town meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Center Drive School cafeteria.

During the town meeting, voters will consider a $5 million education budget and a $1.4 million budget for municipal operations in the coming fiscal year, which starts July 1.

According to Town Manager Dexter Johnson, the community continues to grapple with the loss of property tax revenue from HoltraChem Manufacturing Co.

Since the chemical plant closed in the fall of 2000, local officials have been working to find ways to deal with the loss of 70 to 80 jobs and a significant chunk of the town’s tax base. Once the second-largest taxpayer in Orrington, HoltraChem at one time paid a quarter-million dollars in property taxes. Though last year’s tax bill was paid in full, local officials received nothing this year and aren’t counting on anything from HoltraChem or its former owners in the year ahead.

Selectmen braced for a significant tax increase a year ago, but revenues exceeded projections in other areas and an increase in state subsidy for education helped offset what could have been a larger increase. The tax rate was at $15.75 per $1,000 in property valuation, a 55-cent increase. Johnson said the tax rate for the coming year has yet to be established.

Municipal officials have developed a $1,432,971 budget that is about 2 percent higher than this year’s budget and school officials have proposed a budget of $5,074,320, up $253,748 – or 5.26 percent – from this year. The county tax amounts to $232,975, an increase of 21.3 percent.

Superintendent of Schools Allan Snell said Orrington will receive $2,277,445 in state subsidy for education next year, an increase of about $70,000 from this year. The portion of the budget to be funded by local dollars, $2,661,364, is about $230,000 or 9 percent more than this year. Last year, the local share decreased 1.15 percent.

Snell said part of the budget increase is connected to the all-day kindergarten program slated to begin this fall at Center Drive School. Another new initiative for the coming school year is the addition of an education technician to staff the kindergarten through grade five computer lab, which Snell said would help pupils and staff make the most of the school’s technology resources.