Up Coming Meetings at Acton,ME

[patti]

WHERE: ACTON TOWN HALL
TIME: 7 PM

Warrant & Finance Committee Sets Agenda with:

April 8, 2008 deliberate with School Committee Budget

April 22, 2008 will vote on School Dept Budget

April 24, 2008 Social Service Agencies & Transfer Station Officials

April 30, 2008 Heads of the Highway & Public Safety Dept

May 1, 2008 Municipal Government Officers,Comprehensive Plan &
Planning Board

May 7 & 8 2008 Warrant & Finance committee will vote on Acton's Municipal Budget.

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The April 8th meeting is extremely important to attend. The Warrant & Finance Committee, The School Board, Superintendent, Principal, Selectmen, and the Town Auditor will be there. The public is invited to attend and join in the debate and ask questions.
The Superintendent has asked for a 5% increase in his salary, the principal's salary, and others. He's also asked for a 7% increase in his benefits. Meanwhile, he cut the summer programs for kids, and cut the B basketball team. The cost of these two programs are very small.......about $2000. His 5% and 7% increase in benefits are huge! He's also asking for a 4% increase in benefits for teachers to cover the increase in medical benefits.
We have a rubberstamp school board so unless people start complaining about the high cost of education it's going to keep going up! Do you realize that the school budget in this town has increase about 35% since Beeler came here?

[scott]

During this time period of 35% increase to the school budget, what was the increase to the school population? If I'm not mistaken, the student population hasn't changed much. Probably will go down as the 55+ population increases, right? Where is all the money going??

I don't really know much about the school finances but I've been hearing some suspicious stories. Like the one that has the school paying someone for use of a $30/hr loader to plow the yard instead of using the school's $50k equipment. Someone please tell me this is not so!

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According to Mr. Beeler's own figures, the student population decreased by 9; although he also stated that the number of special ed students increased by 4 in just the last few weeks. His figures don't add up. The student population has hovered around 279 for the past 15 years.

Last summer the Portland Press Herald had an article in their newspaper about the increase in population of some of the towns in York County. Acton had one of the highest increases between 2000 and 2006. The population in Acton increased by about 23% but there was no increase in the number of students at the school. The entire increase was people over the age of 55 moving into Acton. This matches the transition of people moving in on my own road.
Here's Mr. Beeler's own figures on the comparison of the total gross school budget over 9 years.
2000 - $3,239,230.00
2001 - $3,329,521.00 a 2.8% increase
2002 - $3,756,265.00 a 12.8% increase
2003 - $3,896,477.00 a 3.7% increase
2004 - $4,258,918.00 a 9.3% increase
2005 - $4,745,319.00 a 11.4% increase
2006 - $4,775,631.00 a 0.6% increase
2007 - $4,992,453.00 a 4.5% increase
2008 - $5,125,765.00 a 2.7% increase
2009 - $5,138,223.00 a 0.2% increase

Add those percentage increases and you get 48% increase over a 9 yr. period. Are we (the taxpayers) insane?

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Patti,
The April 22, 2008 meeting with the Warrant & Finance Committee has been changed to April 23, 2008 at the request of David Cote.

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Now that the budget season is upon us, we as taxpayers need to stop, listen, and THINK! All departments within the Town and social service organizations will be submitting new budgets to the Warrant and Finance Committee who in turn, will be making recommendations to the people of Acton. The people of Acton will vote on these articles either on June 10th (referendum ballot) or at the annual Town Meeting on June 14th. The first school budget referendum vote is June 3rd.

By attending the Warrant & Finance Committee meetings you (the taxpayer) get to hear first-hand the amount of increase in a budget and the reasons for the particular increase in a budget BEFORE you vote on them in June. My only agenda in posting public information on this message board is to educate the taxpayers of Acton who are unable to attend these meetings and to allow them to have the time to STOP, LISTEN, AND THINK before they vote. I don’t care which way people vote, I only care that you do vote.

I am a strong proponent of education. The more people are educated about what is going on in their community, the more informed their decisions are. Regardless of the outcome of a particular vote, people will know exactly why they voted the way they did and have a sound reason for it. Stay informed and ASK QUESTIONS!! You’re setting an example for the young people in the community.

Since the current meetings deal with the school budget, I will begin here. At the first workshop meeting I heard individuals talking about the “quality of education” in Acton and d**ning the State Dept. of Education for cutting back on state subsidies to Acton. I heard the same talk at a selectman’s meeting the following week. I’ve been asking questions about the Acton School Department since I moved here four years ago and no one has been able to answer my questions, so I decided to do some research.

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Stay tuned................more to follow...............


April 22nd - Special Town Meeting
To vote on the $180,000 overdraft in the road department budget. In May of 2007, only 17 people showed up to vote on a $110,000 overdraft. Since most of those in attendance were highway dept. employees or relatives of the road commissioners, only 3 people voted against the $18,000 winter maintenance overdraft. The road commissioners, employees, and relatives left laughing!
This is a must attend meeting!!!!!Ooops! The amount has been changed to $190,000 now.

MAY 20TH - SPECIAL TOWN MEETING TO VOTE ON SCHOOL BUDGET, 7pm at the school - 16 Articles on Warrant pertaining to school budget

Tuesday, May 27th - 8am - 8pm, Town Hall. The first secret ballot vote on the School Budget. There will be one YES or NO question on the ballot.

Tuesday, June 10th - Vote for Candidates and referendum ballot questions - 8am - 8pm, Town Hall

Saturday, June 14th ANNUAL TOWN MEETING at the school

[scott]

maps,
You make a very important point about voting. In order to make an informed decision, we must become informed before election day. Referendum questions allow us no time on election day to debate or ask questions; even during town meeting, we sometimes are led to a vote before really understanding the issues. we must do our homework -- but do we need to attend every meeting? do we follow our elected officials around and ask about what we don't know? practically speaking, not likely.

I am pleased to see more folks attending and reporting on meetings, asking questions, and doing research. I am terribly afraid that the officials we employ do not always practice such due diligence. While someday we may get cable access to this process, today we hear or read bits and pieces, like in the weekly "inquirer". Please report on the discussion as you see it and encourage everyone to post notes for others to see and comment on. We can all stand to be better informed.

Keep up the good work!

[maps]

The figures I presented tonight came from the Maine State Department of Education website. I compared 12 small towns in Maine who had similar populations and average number of students in K-8. I didn’t look at secondary students because the towns I looked at may treat their secondary students differently. Towns may contract out to other SAD or SAU units, or to private schools. Five of the twelve towns belong to SAD units. I looked at cost per pupil from 2003 – 2006, average teacher salary from 2005 – 2008, MEA scores for grades four and eight from 2003 - 2007, and the amount of general purpose aid from the State for years 2003 – 2008.

What I discovered from the data is that it costs Acton taxpayers twice as much per pupil to educate our children for the same results in MEA test scores as it does for the SAD districts in the study. In 2005-2006, the per pupil cost for Acton was $ 10,841.97. During the same time frame, the cost per pupil in SAD 42 was $ 4,647.31. The average teacher salary in 2008 for Acton is $ 47,792.50. The average teacher salary in SAD 45 in 2008 is $ 34,958.08. The MEA scores for grades four and eight are virtually the same across the 12 towns/districts with no significant difference. For general purpose aid to local schools, Acton is the only town who had their state aid cut consistently over a four year period from 2004 – 2008.

So, for those people who think that “quality of education” equals the amount of money being spent on education in any particular town; THINK again! How is it that eleven (11) other small towns can spend significantly less than Acton and achieve the same results? How is it that eleven (11) other small towns did not receive the same deep cuts in state aid money for education?

In the last four years, I’ve been told by citizens of Acton, that the “quality of education” in Acton is far superior to that of our counterparts. I’ve also been told that the special education program in Acton is far superior to others in this end of the state and that young families from all over the state move here specifically for the special education program. I don’t know who is putting this information out there, but it is not true. The only people who believe this information are uninformed Acton citizens.

Here is the reality. No matter what town you go to, the people in that town believe their school system is the best. The people in Presque Isle believe they have the best schools. The people of Machias believe they have the best schools. The people of Sanford believe they have the best schools. Everyone across this state is proud of their accomplishments and believes their own school system is better than any other in the state. Just ask them! As for the special education department, why is that parents from this end of the state are driving their children to Cape Elizabeth to attend a private school for special education when they could pay far less and travel a much shorter distance by bringing their children to Acton?

Sometime during the early 2000’s the state department of education sent an individual from Augusta to Acton to attend a town meeting to tell the people of Acton that our school budget far exceeded what it needed to be. The citizens of Acton did not heed this advice and continued to vote for an ever expanding school budget with no questions asked. In fact, the gross budget for education in Acton increased 48% over a nine year period. Well, halleluiah! The citizens of Acton proved to the state department of education that we like paying high taxes and that we can sustain this ever expanding school budget. So of course the State is going to cut the general purpose aid to Acton education! The money has been going to towns and SAD districts who have pooled their resources to keep education costs low. Why would the state give money to a town that’s already spending too much money? It doesn’t make sense.

We are now living in a time where the gap between the haves and the have nots is at is widest point since post WWII. To date, three airline companies have gone bankrupt and shut down. The national railway system is shutting down. There aren’t enough goods being shipped to make it profitable to ship by rail. You have long haul truckers who have parked their rigs on the sides of roads or in parking lots because they can’t afford to buy the gasoline to haul partial loads. The price of gold is hovering around $1000/oz so people are selling their jewelry to buy gas to get to and from work. People are losing their jobs, and having their houses foreclosed on. The cost of food has risen significantly. Here in Acton, we have a superintendent who walked into the first budget meeting and asked for a 5% increase in salary and a 7% increase in benefits. The school board only cut the salary increase to 4%! What’s wrong with this picture? How many people in the private sector received a 4% raise this year? What is it this man does in 2 ½ days a week that we can’t live without? Did you know there is no state law requiring a school district to even hire a superintendent?

Here’s food for thought. According to the Press Herald, the population in Acton increased by 485 between 2000 & 2006. There was no increase in the number of students at the Acton Elementary School during the same time frame. The average number of students has hovered around 279 for the past 15 years. The majority of people moving into Acton are 55 and older. Building contractors are building, promoting and selling fifty-five and over housing developments. At the same time, you have people in Acton promoting the school system, particularly the special education department, as the best in the state. The cost of putting a student through a special education program is three (3) times the cost of a regular education program. Then you have the Comprehensive Planning Committee trying to limit growth in Acton. In the near future, we will have people over the age of 65, living on fixed incomes, trying to sustain an out of control education budget. How long do you think that is going to last? People will have to sell their camps/homes because they won’t be able to afford the taxes that need to be raised to support the budget. These are housing units that have been passed from generation to generation over three and four generations. What sense does this make for an entire community? We need to start thinking about what’s best for the Town, and not what’s best for particular individuals.

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Needless to say, there were a few open mouths at the end of the meeting. According to the Chairman of the School Board, all the parents and other townspeople have always voted for the budget they came back with and no one had ever questioned the school budget before. Well maybe it's about time people did start questioning.
The people of Acton do not live in a bubble. What goes on in the world around us also affects us. People are losing their jobs. The families who are losing their homes to foreclosure are are not the 55 and over crowd. They are young families with children......children in the Acton school system. If a parent has to make a choice between keeping the roof over their head or whether their child has art & music 5 days a week, they will choose the roof. If they have to make a decision between putting food on the table or whether their child has band & chorus, they will put food on the table. It's time for the Acton School Board and administration to get off the other planet they've been living on for the past few months and start dealing with reality. There are consequences for greed.

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Has anyone in Acton ever noticed there are three (3) members of the Warrant & Finance Committee who derive a direct benefit from their discussions and votes on the school budget? And one is also on the payroll for the road department?
Although this may not be a "conflict of interest" in the legal sense of the word, it certainly gives the appearance of a conflict of interest and is highly unethical. Why should these three individuals have 2 & 3 bites at the apple to increase their salaries, when the rest of us only get to vote once. Call your selectmen and ask them! Municipal employees should not be allowed to sit on the Warrant & Finance Committee. The recommendations of this advisory committee carry a lot of weight at the Town Meeting!

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WARRANT & FINANCE MEETINGS


This past week, the Warrant & Finance Committee met with social service organizations, the manager of the transfer station, and the town clerk to discuss appropriations and department budgets for the upcoming year.

Individuals from York County Shelter Programs, York County Community Action, and Caring Unlimited talked about their programs, the number of Acton residents using their services, and the amount expended for these services. All of these individuals had a similar story to tell.

Times are tough for a greater number of people than usual. If you’ve been reading the newspapers and watching the news for the past six months then you already know this. If you’ve been buying gasoline, food, and home heating fuel, then you know it’s taking more of your hard earned dollars to survive.

This is the point we are trying to make with the town selectmen, the school board, the Warrant & Finance Committee, and every other department in order to keep the tax rate low. People just cannot afford a significant increase in their real estate taxes.

Four airline carriers have gone bankrupt, the national railway system is shutting down due to lack of goods being shipped, people are losing their jobs, foreclosures on homes have increased significantly, and prices on everything from flour to prescription drugs have increased substantially. The people of Acton do not live in a bubble unaffected by what’s going on in the rest of the country. Some of us will lose our jobs, some of us will lose our homes, and some will be visiting the soup kitchen to get their meals.

This is not the time to be granting 3% and 4% raises to anyone. Very few people in the private sector are getting a raise this year. The board of selectmen needs to be cognizant of the larger picture and hold the line on all department budgets and expenditures.
Pam McAlinden