Eastport weighs budget cuts, increased taxes

EASTPORT – Shead High School students are worried about their educational future.

Taxpayers are worried about escalating property taxes.

Union 104 Superintendent Art Wittine said, if ordered by the City Council, he would cut an additional $100,000 from this year’s proposed school budget but would resign afterward.

If approved, the proposed 2005-06 school and municipal budget would be $5.1 million. Of that, $3.2 million would be earmarked for the school and $1.9 for municipal services. Property taxes will raise the local share to $2.1 million, a 4.6 percent increase over last year.

On a house valued at $100,000, that would represent an increase of about $210 a year.

If the council votes to cut the budget by more than $100,000, it would mean a 2.6 percent decrease in local taxes. On a home valued at $100,000, it would represent a savings of $26.

The council is also looking at cuts on the municipal side of the budget that would include eliminating the fifth police officer’s position and cutting one public works employee. City Manager George “Bud” Finch suggested the council should determine how much it wants to see cut and let him decide where those cuts should be made.

Councilors took no action Monday night. They agreed to meet again on Monday, May 23 to vote on the budget.

It was an emotional night for students, staff and the City Council.

Superintendent Wittine warned that a $100,000 cut could mean the loss of three to four staffers. He said it would also affect his future with the union.

“I will not remain in the area to watch your schools go down the toilet,” he said. “I can’t do that. You cannot deliver quality education with another $100,000 in cuts. I will do what you tell me to do and then see you.”

Like many communities in Maine, Eastport is using a hatchet rather than scissors to cut the budget in the face of escalating health care costs and cuts in state subsidies.

Eastport councilors know what it means to increase the budget. Last year, councilors voted 4-1 to increase the 2004-05 municipal and school budgets to $5.3 million. Of that, $2.2 million was to be raised by taxes. It represented a 28.6 percent increase in property taxes, one of the highest in the state. The hike in taxes led to a backlash from property and business owners who urged councilors to roll the amount back, something they were unable to do.

For many, Monday night’s public hearing was deja vu.

Wittine rejected rumors that it cost $11,000 to send a student to Shead High School. “Calais is $8,800, compared to $6,300 for Eastport,” he said. “Machias is $9,200.”

The superintendent also rejected the notion that Eastport taxpayers subsidized students from outside the city.

“Two-thirds of our current student body pays tuition to attend Shead,” he said.

Wittine said a good public school system is the cornerstone of a community.

“Without a strong, community-supported public high school, the efforts to attract and keep new families becomes even more problematic,” he said.

Opponents suggested the school department was top-heavy with administrative costs, but at least one staffer suggested that the school system had a good administrative staff. Opponents also questioned the $250,000 carryover from last year.

Eastport resident Bobby Davis suggested the school was on the right path with regard to controlling budget surpluses.

“Our last two superintendents, I think you have to admit, maybe weren’t too bright,” Davis said to a resounding laugh from the more than 75 people who attended the meeting.

“The surplus thing has hurt us, but boy if we had that money, we could have made this school so much better than it is right now. … I think we got good people in line now so if you could just give us a couple of years to just keep going, I think we’re going to be OK.”

But several people reminded members of the school department and City Council that people on fixed income and businesses could not continue to absorb the cost of education.

“Where do we draw the line driving taxes up for the elderly?” one Eastport resident said.