Ogunquit News
Ogunquit officials counter school buyout proposal from Wells
By C. Ayn Douglass
OGUNQUIT - Selectmen from Wells and Ogunquit and their respective town managers met at Dunaway Center on Thursday, Dec. 7, to continue negotiations on an agreement to dissolve the Wells Ogunquit Consolidated School District.The meeting was scheduled almost exactly one month from the November meeting in Wells where that town's selectmen presented a proposal for a buyout amount of $50 million dollars - preferably paid up front rather than in installments.
Since then, an Ogunquit committee consisting of Budget Committee member Loring DeAgazio, Ogunquit resident Kevin O'Neil, Selectman Jon Speers, Ogunquit resident and accountant Ray Hamlin, Town Manager Phil Clark and Selectmen Chairman John Miller has been working non-stop to draft a counter proposal.
In an opening statement, Speers reflected on past proposals that haven't been accepted by one town or the other - beginning nine years ago.
"About nine years ago, Wells suggested a $35 million buyout proposal and Ogunquit agreed to the concept. That offer was later pulled off the table by Wells. Since that time, Ogunquit has expended virtually that very amount toward education, and we still have not come to a satisfactory resolution to our funding dilemma," he said. "Two years ago, a task force comprised of members of both Ogunquit and Wells agreed in principle to a buyout amount from Ogunquit of $52 million, payable annually over a period of 13 years. Unfortunately, although the Ogunquit selectmen voted to ratify that recommendation and send it forward to the voters for approval, the selectmen of Wells did not accept the task force recommendation, feeling the amount was not sufficient. Since then, Ogunquit has paid more than $8 million to the CSD, still with no agreement reached."
Speers went on to say that the proposal presented Thursday, which included four concepts, had not been officially voted on by selectmen, but was being "tendered based upon the consensus of the Ogunquit Board of Selectmen" to offer, in good faith, a negotiating proposal.
The four items Ogunquit presented for consideration by Wells selectmen and Town Manager Jane Duncan include a $4 to $5 million "credit" for assets in the CSD owned partially by Ogunquit to be transferred to Wells, the stream of income represented by tuition payments that were previously included in the $52 million offer two years ago, $450,000 to $500,000 of annual state aid, previously earmarked for Ogunquit, which would be transferred to Wells, and, finally, a $40 million up-front payment for Wells to invest and use as it sees fit.
Finally, Ogunquit announced that it would be submitting a bill - in title only - to Augusta by Dec. 15 to dissolve the school district providing the town can find a sponsor for the bill. Both towns agree that the Maine Legislature would, ideally, prefer to have the towns find their own solution, but filing the legislation is a fall-back position should negotiations fail.
Should the district be dissolved either through negotiations or through a legislative act, Ogunquit agreed to discuss a tuition formula with a ballpark estimate of somewhere between $12,000 to $13,000 per student, per year, providing the state had no restrictions against that figure. Speers said Ogunquit arrived at the figure by dividing the total school budget by the total number of students in Wells and Ogunquit. Currently, the state funding formula requires Ogunquit to pay more than $90,000 per pupil to educate each of the approximately 50 students who live in town.
Of concern to Ogunquit selectmen is the borrowing rate for tax-exempt municipal bonds - needed to fund the buyout amount - and whether those rates will rise by the time an agreement is reached. That, and the shift in the structure of the Maine Legislature, which may take it upon itself to restructure a funding formula on its own, is an unknown at this time.
Wells Selectman Jim Spiller, meanwhile, said the $40 million figure was less than Wells had in mind and upped his original buyout number of $50 million to $60 million realizing it wouldn't set well with Ogunquit, but said, "I don't think we're at all out of the park" with this number.
Spiller asked if Ogunquit would consider factoring in Moody Beach Parking Lot revenue to make up the difference, "ceding the rights to the land back to Wells with rights to maintain your facilities (Ogunquit Sewer District) on it."
While the Ogunquit selectmen didn't reject the proposal, they expressed reservations about ceding the land back to Wells in case Ogunquit needs to expand the sewer district in the future.
The Wells selectmen agreed to take the offer on good faith and study it over the next few weeks with a meeting to be scheduled after the new year.
