MECHANIC FALLS – School officials had to take out the budget ax again just days before going into the town’s annual meeting as the result of lower state revenues than originally projected.

Elm Street School, which has kindergarten through eighth grade, will lose another $30,422 on top of the $52,128 cut already projected in state funding over the previous year. The news came after the state Legislature adjourned and after town warrant articles had been approved and published.

Mechanic Falls voters who show up for town meeting Tuesday will hear the latest round of bad news for the school budget, which includes staff and program cuts and requests for higher taxes. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. in the school gym, 129 Elm St. If necessary, the town meeting will carry over to Wednesday, also at 6 p.m. in the school gymnasium.

When the School Committee recently held a special meeting after receiving news from Augusta, the committee voted to rescind its recommendation for Article No. 60, a proposal to raise $18,700 for technology upgrades, said school principal Mary Martin. The committee is still asking the town to raise its taxes by $1.80 per $1,000 assessed property value, while the Budget Committee is recommending only a $1.50 increase.

Updating the parents

On Friday, Martin sent home a letter to parents that highlights this year’s school budget situation. Even at a 1.8 mill increase, the school budget cuts personnel by one bus driver, 40 percent of a special education social worker’s time, 50 percent of a special education aide and 20 percent of a regular education social worker.

The difference between the School and Budget committees’ proposals may mean the loss of the industrial arts teacher and program. However, the Budget Committee has left reduction decisions to school officials and not specified where to make the cuts.

The town’s portion of warrant articles asks for no tax increases, but does ask for voter approval to issue about $350,000 in bonds for road repairs.

If all 60 articles pass as currently presented, based on current property valuations, the tax rate will be 30.07 mills, said Town Manager Dana Lee.

However, property owners won’t have a final number until August when the Town Council sets the mill rate for 2004-2005, said Lee. The total assessed property value probably won’t be at the same level as last year, Lee noted.

Over the past five years, total property values have increased an average of 2.5 percent each year while the tax rate has increased an average of 4.89 percent each year, according to town records.

Using different rates

Early in the budget process, which started in December and immediately followed successful contract negotiations that gave teachers a 4 percent raise, the School Committee was working under the assumption that the town’s current mill rate was at 29.65. School Committee member Terri Arsenault said that the number came from the Budget Committee.

However, Budget Committee Chairman Carl Beckett, said that he understood the mill rate to be 28.04 and only vaguely remembered the School Committee’s assumption being mentioned shortly after last year’s town meeting.

The actual current mill rate for Mechanic Falls is 28.00, said Lee. The town’s valuation, which includes reimbursement from the state for Homestead Act exemptions, is $87,179,000. The valuation for the previous year of 2002-2003 was $84,979,000. The numbers published in the annual report do not account for the state reimbursements, said Lee. He said that he anticipates the total amount for 2004-2005 to rise to about $110 million, which would redistribute the final tax burden.

The new fiscal year, which begins July 1, will include assessments done during May and June on new or improved properties as of April 1 of this year. Meanwhile, going on at the same time is a total town revaluation, which won’t affect the town’s revenue or tax bills until the 2005-2006 year, said Lee.

After the council sets the new mill rate, tax bills will go out later in August. Property owners will have to pay at least half of the bill by Oct. 15, and the second half by May 15, 2005.

Lee countered Beckett’s notion that taxes have a primary effect on property values. Quality of education and public services, along with levels of crime, commuting distances and zoning regulations all influence property values, said Lee.



Beckett consistently has urged school officials to keep the final tax rate under 30 mills and not to surpass Auburn. Beckett, who works in real estate, said that climbing property taxes reduce property value by making it less attractive to buyers.



The last time the town went through a revaluation was 1989. Even then, the assessments were only visual estimates. This time, contracted assessors will take building and lot measurements but will not enter into buildings unless asked to by property owners.