Vassalboro selectmen present proposal to budget committee

by Mary Grow

At two early-March meetings, Vassalboro School Board members put their 2020-21 budget request into near-final form on March 3, and Vassalboro selectmen presented their proposed municipal budget to the budget committee on March 5.

Discussions are scheduled to continue at a Thursday, March 12, budget committee meeting to consider parts of the municipal budget; a Thursday, March 19, budget committee meeting following that evening’s selectmen’s meeting; and a Tuesday, March 24, budget committee meeting following that evening’s school board meeting. The Budget Committee meetings are scheduled for 7 p.m., the first two at the town office and the March 24 meeting at Vassalboro Community School.

As of the initial meetings, each part of the total town budget proposes an increase over the current year. However, neither has complete figures for either expenditures or income.

The March 3 draft of the school budget does not include three items on Vassalboro Community School Principal Megan Allen’s wish list: a new math instructional specialist to complement the literacy specialist, a third fourth-grade teacher and separation of Vassalboro’s pre-school program from the Southern Kennebec Child Development Corporation to give school authorities full control.

An ongoing school issue, in Vassalboro and many other Maine municipalities, is school lunch program deficits. School board members agreed that they need to persuade more students, especially those entitled to free and reduced-price lunches, to eat school meals so that federal subsidies will increase.

On the municipal side, there are the usual cost questions about major items like road-paving and planned culvert replacements. Complicating the picture is what money can legally be used from Vassalboro’s TIF (Tax Increment Financing) fund rather than from property taxes.

The piece of good news that seemed firm was a suggested $6,500 reduction in the utilities budget, because the LED streetlights installed last fall are lowering the electric bill.

Income is also a guess at this stage in the budget process. It appears that state aid for both school and municipal accounts will increase, but final figures are not guaranteed until the legislature adjourns in April. The assessor has not finished updating the town’s valuation, which is the basis for setting a tax rate to cover expenditures.

After budget committee review, selectmen will put together a warrant for the annual town meeting, including proposed 2020-21 expenditures. Final spending decisions will be made by Vassalboro voters at the meeting, scheduled for Monday evening, June 1, with local elections to follow on Tuesday, June 9.