The 2012 Annual Report for RSU 21, with proposed
budget data for the 2012-2013 school year, is now available. We hope you
will find this greatly expanded document to be helpful as you seek to
understand more about our schools.
The financial data in this report will provide you with a significant amount of information as you consider your vote on the 2013 school budget (please remember the important dates of May 1 and May 15, where you are encouraged to cast your vote - see details on page 46 of the report).
A copy of the report may be downloaded on the website (www.rsu21.net).
The financial data in this report will provide you with a significant amount of information as you consider your vote on the 2013 school budget (please remember the important dates of May 1 and May 15, where you are encouraged to cast your vote - see details on page 46 of the report).
A copy of the report may be downloaded on the website (www.rsu21.net).
You may also
pick up a hard copy at any of the following locations (and we thank these local
officials and businesses for their support in making this information available
to you):
KENNEBUNK
RSU 21 District Office (87 Fletcher St.)
Kennebunk High School (89 Fletcher St.)
Middle School of the Kennebunks (60 Thompson Rd.)
Sea Road School (29 Sea Rd.)
Kennebunk Elementary School (177 Alewive Rd.)
Kennebunk Town Hall (1 Summer St.)
Kennebunk Free Library (112 Main St.)
Cummings Market (3 Alfred Rd.)
The Landing Store (157 Summer St.)
Kennebunk Light and Power (4 Factory Pasture Lane)
Kennebunk Sewer District (71 Water St.)
KENNEBUNKPORT
Consolidated School (25 School St.)
Village Fire Station (32 North St.)
Kennebunkport Town Hall (6 Elm St.)
Bradbury Market (167 Maine St.)
Graves Library (18 Maine St.)
Cape Porpoise Library (Atlantic Hall)
ARUNDEL
Mildred L. Day School (600 Limerick Rd.)
J Brothers Variety (1680 Portland Rd.)
Arundel Market (1144 Portland Rd.)
Arundel Town Hall (468 Limerick Rd.)
Green Mountain Transplants (670 Alfred Rd.)
KENNEBUNK
RSU 21 District Office (87 Fletcher St.)
Kennebunk High School (89 Fletcher St.)
Middle School of the Kennebunks (60 Thompson Rd.)
Sea Road School (29 Sea Rd.)
Kennebunk Elementary School (177 Alewive Rd.)
Kennebunk Town Hall (1 Summer St.)
Kennebunk Free Library (112 Main St.)
Cummings Market (3 Alfred Rd.)
The Landing Store (157 Summer St.)
Kennebunk Light and Power (4 Factory Pasture Lane)
Kennebunk Sewer District (71 Water St.)
KENNEBUNKPORT
Consolidated School (25 School St.)
Village Fire Station (32 North St.)
Kennebunkport Town Hall (6 Elm St.)
Bradbury Market (167 Maine St.)
Graves Library (18 Maine St.)
Cape Porpoise Library (Atlantic Hall)
ARUNDEL
Mildred L. Day School (600 Limerick Rd.)
J Brothers Variety (1680 Portland Rd.)
Arundel Market (1144 Portland Rd.)
Arundel Town Hall (468 Limerick Rd.)
Green Mountain Transplants (670 Alfred Rd.)
Quite the comprehensive report, with real, factual data about our respective schools' standing in the district. Real, factual data about our expenditures.
ReplyDeleteThis annual report should have been reviewed prior to people authorizing the unlimited expenditure of our town's undesignated funds for a 'study'.
There is a 90 day period within which to come up with a withdrawal plan to submit to the Commissioner of Education, once the committee is formed. This is no 'study'.
There are 500+ folks that just signed our town into higher taxes and more debt. It was okay to authorize this expenditure, but it was proposed that our emergency services be cut at the most recent Selectmen's meeting. If this doesn't wake you people up, all hope is lost.
The town voted to authorize up to $35,000 not unlimited expenditures. I agree there is a lot of information here to comprehend and validate how it effects us as a community and how it would effect us if we stand alone.
ReplyDeleteWhen are you going to STOP trying to scare the public with all hope is lost, etc.?
The process has begun, let's see what is developed, understand it, then vote on it!
Please REMEMBER We ALL HAVE ONE MORE VOICE in if we withdraw or not, so all hope as you put it is not lost.
Enjoy the day and have a nice weekend!
The reason to cut the Fire Dept. is to help cover the cost of renovating KHS. Arundel's first payment on the school board approved plan will be $660,000, according to Supt. Dolloff. It will decrease over 20 years to a final payment of $430,000. That first payment is more than double the Fire Dept. operating budget. What's next, Road Dept., Town Hall? $660,000 represents approximately a 50% increase in our municipal budget for the renovation plan alone. Who is putting our town into higher taxes and more debt?
ReplyDeleteThe town voted to authorize up to $35K, but Dana Peck said quite clearly that he'd vote for further expenditures if he didn't 'get the answers we need', and he had no idea what $ amount he'd stop at. Doesn't really give me any comfort that our money will be well spent.
ReplyDeleteOur emergency services should not be sacrificed, and Arundel citizens should have voted for the improved cost sharing plan, and should have negotiated more strongly for a more equitable distribution of the debt, but the ball was dropped on that one.
You do realize that the same cuts and proposed sacrifices are going to be requested and made out of necessity if the town withdraws, yes? Because that $3.7M in renovations that are needed for MLD to come up to code aren't going to magically fall out of the sky, and one of the pieces of the withdrawal agreement states that we as a town will not request assistance for repairs for FIVE YEARS, if we go it alone.
Five years of the school not having a sprinkler system that is up to code. Five years of a building that is in need of repair. Think about that. Where would the money come from, if we affirm that we will not seek state funding to fix the school?
That's right. Out of our pockets, directly. KA-CHING.
Here's a clip of the statute:
(3) The agreement must establish that the withdrawal will not cause a need within 5 years from the
effective date of withdrawal for school construction projects that would be eligible for state funds.
It says that this does not apply if:
This limitation does not apply when a need for school construction existed prior to the effective date
of the withdrawal or when a need for school construction would have arisen even if the municipality
had not withdrawn.
My question is, if it does not apply, and school repairs *are* eligible for state funding, why is our elementary school still in disrepair? If our children, their education and our school are important to Arundel citizens, why has this been neglected?
Dana Peck obviously has an open pocket of spending, and doesn't care how much he spends of our money, as he is a strong advocate for staying with RSU 21, who also loves to spend Arundel taxpayer money, and said something to the effect of over his dead body would we withdraw from RSU 21. The Board of Selectmen are the ones who wanted the study, and the town voted for it under their guidance. Under current statute only a committee is to be formed.
ReplyDeleteArundel should also be informed that there are others out their who have formed an alliance with Dana Peck in disbanding the Arundel Fire Rescue, and one of those people is one of the strong advocates for staying with RSU 21. I say stop the spending, and stop the nonsense, don't close the Arundel Fire Rescue, and withdraw from RSU 21, and do what it right for the citizens of Arundel and the taxpayers.
As for closing the Arundel Fire Department, that is the most obsurd thing ever, and it is regressing not moving forward with a growing town, and Arundel would be unwise to do so. Withdrawing from the RSU is the smartest thing for Arundel to do. Closing of the AFR would pay for the extensive, and expensive renovations, but at the expense, and safety of the Arundel Taxpayers. I say, Arundel do the building renovations to ML Day alone, and save 1/2 of the expense as we would with consolidation and go and move forward independent!
The Withdrawal Committee will serve well for the town, and I hope that there is attendance from both sides of the issue.
Not advocating for a stellar school system is also...as you put it...regressing not moving forward. Arundel seems hell bent on that.
ReplyDeleteArundel will move forward after withdrawal, nobody is interested in regressing backward. Think positive.
ReplyDeleteWait a minute - I thought this group was being put together for a 'study' to determine if we were even financially viable enough to go through the withdrawal process.
DeleteSlip of the tongue?
(I'm already aware of the behind-the-scenes action; I know what the statute says, and what the plan actually is.)
The idea that this group of folks is going to be in any way objective, or even planning a 'study' to 'see' if we want to withdraw is the most ludicrous lie passed around since the idea that we'd save our taxes if we voted down the cost-sharing measure.
None of the folks on the withdrawal committee are anti-withdrawal, and everyone who voted yes, and passed around misinformation that this is about a 'study' lied.
Now that the committee has been formed, we have 90 days to submit a withdrawal plan to the Commissioner of Education.
PLAN. Not feasibility study. Read the statute, people.
No wonder Arundel is the laughingstock of this area.
Lol. John renell on the wdc? Sounds like regression to me.
ReplyDeleteIndeed. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he puts up a fuss over buying groceries. I wonder if he helped encourage the cut to funding for the Kennebunk Free Library.
Delete'We don't need no books. We're AMERICANS'
(no, that's not his quote, but those who attended the Selectmen's meeting on the 26th will know where that comes from.)