To the Editor:
Thursday,
May 10, Portland's Channel 6 aired a segment on several proposed town
withdrawals from school districts in Maine. The primary focus was on a
withdrawal initiative by Arundel from RSU 21.
The main withdrawal proponent cited as the
principal reason an unfairly high tax increase compared with its school
district consolidation partners, Kennebunk and Kennebunkport. The
numbers stated were $177 vs. $35 and $2, respectively. At first blush
that might seem inequitable. Yet the great bulk of that cost difference
stems only from complying with state education law — computations using
each town's number of students and valuation.
The game is called "who can scare the tax payers more by playing with the numbers" Sad thing is...it works.
ReplyDeleteReference Page 24 of the 2012 Annual Report from the RSU 21 School Board Data for some projected numbers:
ReplyDeletehttp://rsu21.net/FY2013/Annual%20Report%202012.Updated%204.24.pdf
I believe the the real long term fight which we in Arundel should be FOCUSED on is WORTH FIGHTING for and it is much greater than $4.00!
Total Projected Costs:
Kennebunk High School $43.5M
Consolidated School $4.2M
Mildred L. Day School $3.7M
TOTAL: $51.4M
Total Projected Costs Impact to the Local Taxpayer (per $100k)
Year Two* Year Twenty
Arundel $175 $102
Kennebunkport $74 $43
Kennebunk $134 $78
*The second year of the building project will be the most costly, as the "20 YEAR" bond payment decreases each year. These numbers are estimated, based on current cost-sharing information and projected costs of the projects.