China selectmen approve 15.9 mil tax rate; hear school spending proposal

by Mary Grow

China selectmen have unanimously approved a 2017-18 tax rate of 15.9 mils, or $15.90 for each $1,000 of valuation, an increase of 40 cents per $1,000 over last year’s rate.

Town Manager Daniel L’Heureux said at the board’s Aug. 21 meeting the main reason for the increase is lower state funding for education, requiring local property owners to make up the difference. Also, he said, the homestead exemption for primary residences goes up from $15,000 to $20,000, saving a little money for homeowners but adding to taxes on businesses and seasonal homes.

Selectmen heard a presentation on school spending plans from new Regional School Unit (RSU) #18 Superintendent Carl Gartley, one of three preliminary discussions of Nov. 7 local ballot items.

RSU #18 proposes seeking approval from voters in its member towns (Belgrade, China, Oakland, Rome and Smithfield) for a $14 million bond issue for repairs and updates to several school buildings plus a new athletic complex for Messalonskee High School.

Gartley, a former Erskine Academy teacher and China Middle School principal, shared a table showing that more than $2.4 million of the total amount borrowed would go to China schools, mostly for improvements to the older middle school.

If the bond issue is approved and the work is done, he said, the long-discussed possibility of closing the middle school and enlarging China Primary School would be put off for at least another 20 years.

China Middle School is the second most costly project on Gartley’s list, exceeded only by the $2.8 million earmarked for Oakland’s Williams Elementary School.

Selectman Ronald Breton objected to the bond issue, especially to the plan to include $3 million for the new athletic complex which, he said, very few China students would use.

“My responsibility is this town,” Breton said, urging that the $3 million be made a separate proposal. He added when one of the RSU #18 directors so moved at a board meeting, at Breton’s instigation, the board voted 9 to1 against the proposal.

Gartley fears if the two issues are separated, voters will reject both. He disagreed that China gains less from RSU membership than the other towns; the town has gained academically, in terms of district financial support for building renovations and especially in special education, he said.

He remembered when he was a principal in China searching for appropriate placements for special education students – Erskine Academy, a private school, is not obliged to accept them – and sometimes finding only an expensive alternative that required long bus rides for the student. Now, he said, any RSU #18 student can attend Messalonskee High School.

The second possible Nov. 7 ballot question, to be discussed again at the next selectmen’s meeting, is Board Chairman Neil Farrington’s proposed question that, if approved, would require all nonprofit agencies asking for town funds to provide a financial statement demonstrating their need for the money.

Selectmen considered whether a ballot question is necessary, since a financial statement requirement has been an off-again, on-again policy, and whether information about past spending or future spending plans would be more useful.

A third question likely to be on the ballot is a request, probably for up to $8,000, to create a fire pond on Neck Road, partly on Tom Michaud’s land and partly on an adjoining lot. Michaud said he and China Village Fire Chief Tim Theriault have discussed plans, and selectmen said the other landowner does not object.

Selectmen asked L’Heureux to draft both questions for discussion at their next meeting. They have until mid-September to get local ballot questions in final form.

In other business, L’Heureux reported the state Department of Economic and Community Development approved China’s request to amend its Tax Increment Financing (TIF) program. The changes, supported by voters at the March town business meeting, add the new Central Maine Power Company substation off Route 3 to the TIF base and extend the program from 20 years to 30 years.

Selectmen unanimously approved former board member Robert MacFarland’s plan to replace the supporting beams under the former Weeks Mills schoolhouse. MacFarland estimates the cost for the repairs plus adding a handicapped-access ramp to the back of the building at $9,100. L’Heureux recommended payment from the bicentennial fund and the selectmen’s contingency fund.

The board unanimously authorized TIF Committee member Frank Soares to apply for a state grant to enlarge the boat launch at the head of China Lake’s east basin. The committee is also seeking engineers’ plans for a new causeway bridge just west of the boat landing, Michaud said.

Michaud said the next TIF Committee meeting is scheduled for Monday evening, Aug. 28. Selectmen rescheduled their next meeting, which would fall on the Labor Day holiday, to 8 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6.