Small-town divides force a 3rd school budget vote in rural Maine
GUILFORD — A school district based in Piscataquis County is heading back to the drawing board after voters in six towns narrowly rejected a proposed budget for the second time last week.
Clear divides were on display in Maine School Administrative District 4. Voters from Guilford and Sangerville, the bigger towns in the district, backed the proposal. But there was higher turnout from the smaller towns of Parkman, Abbot and Cambridge that tanked the budget. It was 234-207, a margin of 27 votes.
The district is one of at least 16 in Maine that don’t yet have a budget after June referendums. It’s another example of how tax-weary voters in small towns are using low-turnout elections to rebel against local school boards. The Guilford-based district now has to decide how to alter the proposals and put them back out to voters by Sept. 7.
The SAD 4 board initially put forward a $9.75 million budget in June. That was roundly defeated by a margin of 282-187. In response, the board whittled the budget down to $9.53 million, a 3 percent increase on the prior year. It made up the difference largely by axing certain vacant positions at the schools.
The proposed budget increase was driven largely by state mandates, wages and utilities, according to Anthony Willis, SAD 4’s finance director. Willis said the divide between towns and general frustration over high taxes caused disruption in a usually smooth budget process.
Cambridge, a center of opposition, is the second-smallest town in the district. It sends fewer than 50 students to K-12 public schools. With 61 of its 308 registered voters showing up to vote on the budget, it saw nearly 20 percent turnout. Sangerville, home to the largest proportion of the district’s student population, had only 88 people show up — turnout of less than 9 percent.
The numbers reflect tensions between the more populous areas and the rural towns that send few students to the school and have a high proportion of residents on fixed incomes. Mike Dexter, a selectperson from Guilford who also works for the school, suggested locals upset about taxes are driven to turn out. He doesn’t know if there is much more to cut.
“You can dime-and-dollar any budget,” Dexter added. “You know, you can cut $100 here, and $1,000 there, but you’re not going to make a significant [difference].”
But the view is different in Cambridge, where Michael Watson, the head selectperson, said the school budget does not match his town’s interests. He noted that his select board recently accepted a petition to withdraw from SAD 4 altogether. Cambridge residents could vote on whether to stay in the district as early as March.
“I don’t want to insult anybody, but it appears that the school board is a little bit out of touch with reality,” he said. “They need to stop, they need to look at the economics of the whole district and decide what they can provide and what they can’t afford to provide anymore.”
Wendy Lorigan, an art teacher at the district’s elementary school who previously served on the school board, said she hopes turnout in her town, Sangerville, increases to pass the budget soon.
“We have a very supportive community, so I’m optimistic that it will pass this time,” she said. “If there’s one thing people come out for, it’s for the kids. So I know as we inch closer to school, they will make sure it happens.”
Board members are expected to meet this week to iron out the details of the next budget proposal.
“The superintendent and the board are going to work very close together to find out what needs to be changed,” Willis said.
Daniel O’Connor is a Report for America corps member who covers rural politics as part of the partnership between the Bangor Daily News and The Maine Monitor, with additional support from BDN and Monitor readers.