RSU board votes to reopen cost sharing discussion

KENNEBUNK — The RSU 21 Board of Directors spent the majority of its Dec. 5 meeting debating and listening to town leaders from Kennebunkport, Kennebunk and Arundel give their input on the cost-sharing formula between the three towns.

The discussion began after the Arundel Board of Selectmen sent a letter to the RSU 21 board asking it to revisit the cost-sharing breakdown. At a time when the school district is looking to make renovations to several schools within the district, the debt posed by those improvements will place a majority of that burden on the taxpayers of Arundel, the selectmen said.

RSU 21 director Matt Fadiman pointed out that a new cost-sharing formula was rejected by town voters just six months ago.

"My only hesitation, and it's a minor one, is I explicitly and implicitly trust the voters of the community. They sent us a clear message. My only concern is, how do we reform a committee asking at least a very similar if not the same question that the voters clearly rejected a short time ago?" Fadiman asked.

Fellow director Diane Robbins compared the possibility of a cost-sharing plan passing a second time around to when the district budget was shot down by voters, but then passed after improvements were made.

"I think we really do have to look at fundamental fairness, look at the communities, and at least reopen the discussion," said Robbins, who served on the Cost Sharing Committee that put a new plan before voters in May.

Once it became clear that the majority of the board was in favor of a new cost-sharing formula, Kennebunkport Town Manager Larry Mead, a member on the last committee to determine a cost-sharing formula, took the podium to urge the school board to leave the formula alone. Mead said that the Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen were in favor of the new cost sharing formula before it was voted down, even though it would raise property taxes in the town of Kennebunkport, but he believed the selectmen would not be in favor this time around. Mead went on to say he believed Arundel would try and leave the district, and that cost sharing should not be examined until the original five-year plan had run its course.

"The reality is folks in Arundel are going to try and pull out of the district. They may not succeed, but they're going to get the signatures to at least start the debate," Mead said. "Let's wait until Arundel decides what it's going to do amongst themselves, then let's talk about cost sharing. It may only be two towns that we're talking about, and if it's three, that's fine too because it's the time to talk about it. I think if you bring it back now I don't believe you'll see the voters in Kennebunkport support this even by a majority vote."

Cost-sharing plans require a two-thirds vote to pass.

Arundel Town Manager Todd Shea "respectfully disagreed" with Mead while acknowledging Arundel has some unanswered questions.

"The town of Arundel is in turmoil right now," Shea said. "We have a lot of questions that really need to be answered. We are not looking to pull out of the RSU district, we are looking to find what's in the best interest of the town of Arundel. There is a perception that people are in favor of RSU doing renovations to the schools, but the same perception is, 'How do I support such a capital improvement plan when the burden is on the town of Arundel, overwhelmingly?'"

Chairman of the Kennebunk Board of Selectmen, Al Searles, also voiced his support of reopening the cost sharing committee.

At the end of the discussion the board approved reconsidering the cost sharing formula with only Vice Chairperson Maureen King voting against the measure.

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