EDDINGTON PUBLIC HEARINGS SET FOR 2010-2011 TOWN BUDGET

Tuesday March 2 and March 16 (at 6pm) have been set for Public Hearings at the Town Office where the proposed Town Budget will be reviewed - and the Town Warrant signed - for the 2010-2011 Town Budget which will be voted on at the Annual Town Meeting at the end of March at the Eddington Elementary School.

If things go as usual, there will be less than a full room in attendance at either of the Public Hearings, even though this year it is possible (according to rumor) that Homestead Exemptions will be eliminated by the state government and that there will be a reduction of $40,000. (or more) in shared revenue from the state to the town - both of which will add to the possibility of increased property taxes. And this is BEFORE we even deal with the proposed School Budget and state penalty of $167,000 to be divided between Eddington, Clifton and Holden because SAD 63 has done absolutely nothing about consolidating with any other school district since consolidation was not repealed last November. If the School Board goes the way it has in recent years, in spite of the state cutting back on its share of district expenses, we should expect that expense to go up as well - all of which will produce a hefty increase in the 2010 property taxes for everyone in the three town area.

And yet, there continues to be a failure of voters/taxpayers and property owner involvement in any of these elected government structures. Perhaps everyone has just given up and set about making plans to sell and get out while they have any money left.

Maybe we should take a lesson from that town in Rhode Island (that plans to fire all its teachers because of continuing poor school performance) and fire the entire School Board and Central Office. With only 944 students in the entire district, the SAD 63 budget continues to consume over 51 percent of the property tax bills of Eddington town property owners. According to http://www.Cliftonnews.blogspot.com , they have 150 students in the district and are paying over $500,000 per year - and that's BEFORE they will get hit with their share of the tax penalty for a School Board that has done NOTHING regarding consolidation since last November.

In an email exchange I had last week with the new Chairperson of the School Board, she is concerned with the quality of education the students receive. Me, too. But for over two years she was the Chair of the Curriculum Committee (of the School Board) and another member, a teacher, - both of whom are Eddington School Board reps) and there was not a single Curriculum Committee meeting. Seems to this writer that at least one meeting would have been in order, if only with the principals from Bangor, Brewer and John Bapst High Schools where our students go to ascertain how well our students are prepared in the areas of math and science for high school (since those areas were raised in the previous RSU discussions). And maybe a second - or more - meeting would have been in order with the principals from the SAD 63 schools along with the high school principals coordinated by the School board members of the Curriculum Committee. Better that than the excuse that SAD 63 didn't want to initiate anything that would be in conflict with any potential RSU partners. What partners? At the moment there are none - more because of inaction by the SAD 63 board than anything else.

In fact, the Downeast Newspapers are reporting that the Commissioner of Education has proposed to the Legislature that a waiver be approved which would allow an AOS be formed by just two school districts (no minimum number of students would be required) with a consolidated Central Office. That proposal will be voted on this Spring and if passed, the penalty tax will not be levied against the towns involved. When I brought that to the attention to the SAD 63 Chair last week in an email, the response I received was one of disinterest because of her interest in the "quality" of education. As if one could not maintain the same quality of education already in SAD 63 schools if they formed an AOS with CSD 8 or Otis. And BTW, avoid the $167,000 tax penalty looming over our heads in the process...

But unless there are people who will get off their duffs and out of their houses and attend these meetings - or write/call their School Board members and make some noise, nothing will change - except the dollar size of the property tax bills, of course. Those will only continue to go up.