By Scott Taylor,Staff Writer

AUBURN – City Democrats are squaring off with school officials about paying to use a school building next month.

Democrats will caucus on Feb. 26 at Auburn Middle School – there’s no question about that, according to organizers.

The controversy stems from an Auburn School Department policy that requires anyone using school buildings to pay expenses for that space. That’s unfair, according to Auburn City Democratic Committee Chairman Ed Desgrosseilliers, and he’s refusing to pay.

“They shouldn’t be charging anyone for this,” Desgrosseilliers said. “It’s a public meeting space in a public building and this is a public use. State law backs me up on this.”

According to state statutes, the municipality must provide a place for political parties to gather for caucuses every two years. The law doesn’t mention fees at all.

“The point is, this is a small group of local citizens, not a big group with a big budget,” Desgrosseilliers said.

But it’s school policy to charge for expenses, said Jude Cyr, business manager for Auburn schools. In this case, it’s the expense of having at least one custodian come to the school on a Sunday to open the building. The cost would be about $284.

“Just because they’re having this meeting, does that mean we should have to take money from our budget?” Cyr said. “I don’t think that’s fair. I think it’s taking money away from students and staff to accommodate an outside group, whether it’s political or not.”

Cyr said city Democrats can come before the school committee and ask to have the fees waived. Desgrosseilliers said he doesn’t plan to do that.

“I’m not ready to go before any group, to ask for anything,” Desgrosseilliers said. “It’s just not right to do this.”

Cyr said he does not have the authority to waive the fee, and neither does the school superintendent. “The only ones that do are the school committee, so he has to take it up with them.”

About 400 Democrats attended the 2004 caucus, but Desgrosseilliers isn’t expecting that large a crowd this year.

“That was a presidential campaign, and there’s a lot more interest in that,” he said. He estimated as many as 200 Democrats would come to the caucus this year to select delegates to the state convention and help select the party’s candidate for governor.