Madawaska boards ask state for education share

MADAWASKA – Selectmen and members of the school committee were unanimous Tuesday night in their quest to make the Legislature adhere to a voters’ decision last June that said the state should pay its full share of education expenditures.

The resolution asks that the Legislature “move forward” on voters’ decisive approval that the state pay 55 percent of education costs.

It asks that the Legislature abide by legislation it passed in 1984.

“We are asking the state to move forward on this,” Town Manager Fred Ventresco said at the biweekly meeting of the Board of Selectmen. “The town is trying to do something with property taxes.

“Some 100 towns in Maine have passed a similar resolution,” he said.

Both boards made their own motions, the school committee doing so in special session. Both approved the motions unanimously.

Local officials believe municipalities have sought to lower property taxes but can’t do so without the state funding education to the level it has said it would.

They think that municipalities would lower taxes with the additional money from not having to pay larger amounts of money for education.

In their resolve to the Legislature, local officials said they intend to submit local budgets next year that the extra local money would be used to offset the property tax commitment.

They included the intent that taxes would be lowered “as is possible without sacrificing the needs of its citizens.”

Another caveat is that their intent does not take into account changes should voters approve the so-called Palesky tax cap proposal on November’s ballot.