Vassalboro budget committee works on school, municipal budgets

by Mary Grow

Vassalboro budget committee members met the evenings of April 9 and 10, the first time for a presentation on the school budget and the second time for review of the municipal budget.

The April 9 meeting followed that evening’s school board meeting. [See accompanying story in this issue.] Superintendent Alan Pfeiffer had given budget committee members the amended proposed 2024-25 school budget beforehand.

Of the $9.5 million 2024-25 budget, more than $6 million will cover salaries and benefits.

Another $3 million pays fixed or obligated costs.

At the meeting, Pfeiffer shared a summary sheet showing that of the $9.5 million 2024-25 budget, more than $6 million will cover salaries and benefits. Another $3 million pays fixed or obligated costs like secondary tuition, supplies and maintenance and insurance.

Less than $400,000 fell into an “other costs” category that could be considered adjustable, like copy paper, printing, athletics and staff development.

An additional challenge, Pfeiffer said, is that the state school funding formula does not keep pace with rising costs. A lower proportion of state funding means a larger burden for local taxpayers.

Pfeiffer proposes two new expenditures next year: a second guidance counselor, and one new school bus, to resume the bus-a-year rotation that was temporarily abandoned when the department used federal Covid money to buy five buses in one year. State funds will reimburse the cost of the bus.

The guidance counselor is the only staff member hired with federal funds whose position will continue as part of the regular budget. Pfeiffer said most of the one-time money was spent on things like the buses and building renovations that did not create on-going expenses.

Budget committee members had questions about the school’s undesignated fund balance, about the relationship between Vassalboro’s property valuation and its state school funding and similar fiscal issues. They postponed a decision on their recommendations on the school budget.

The next night, they met with Town Manager Aaron Miller and the three select board members to review the municipal budget, following up on two March meetings (see the April 4 issue of The Town Line, p. 2). They again postponed recommendations.

Major topics at the two-and-a-half hour meeting included:

— Town employees, including select board members’ proposed pay increases. Budget committee members are mostly not in favor of the additional public works department member recommended by the select board. Miller said a new uncertainty is that transfer station manager George Hamar is leaving; his successor’s salary is to be determined.
— Town funding for recreation, a town program headed by a town employee, and the Vassalboro Public Library, a separate entity from the town. Comments on both were generally favorable, with references to expanded programs that benefited residents.
— Road paving and repaving and pending road and bridge projects.
— Allocation of money among the town’s undesignated surplus, reserve funds for specific uses and 2024-25 expenditures. Budget committee member William Browne said that saving too much for the future is unpopular with older residents.

By the time the meeting ended, committee chairman Peggy Schaffer estimated the committee was leaning toward disagreeing with the select board on three or four major items, including expanding the public works staff and buying a new loader.

Budget committee members planned to make recommendations at a Tuesday, April 16, meeting. Select board members are to prepare the warrant for the June 4 and June 11 town meeting at their Thursday, April 18, meeting, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. in the town office.