York Town News
Scaled-back arts space, $6 million Town Hall part of budget plan
By Jennifer L. Saunders
YORK - Within the past week, the School Committee and Board of Selectmen have given the nod to their respective operating and capital budgets for fiscal 2008, and now the Budget Committee's review process has begun.The School Department operating budget is proposed at about $22.8 million, with about $2.2 million for debt service.
The town's operating budget is proposed at almost $13.6 million.
The Capital Committee has put forward a recommendation of almost $7 million in funding for capital projects in the year ahead - about $500,000 toward an addition to York High School for musical instruction space, $500,000 toward the town's major drainage remediation work and $6 million for a new Town Hall.
The selectmen endorsed the capital plan unanimously at their meeting on Monday, Jan. 29 - including the phased approach to a York High School Arts Wing.
When a full arts wing project, including instructional space and a new auditorium, was proposed last year, it met with opposition from the selectmen and ultimately failed at the polls during the budget vote in May.
This year, the plan for a $2.3 million project to provide instructional space, to be funded out of existing interest income and fund balance money from the School Department with a request for $495,605 from new taxes, has the full support of selectmen and the School Committee.
It will now be up to the Budget Committee to place the requests on the ballot for voter approval in May.
"I think this is exactly what the board envisioned when they made the request to set this committee up," Chairman David Marshall said of the capital plan
Selectman Len Dorrian agreed.
"I am going to strenuously support this," he said, adding the capital and operating requests have been in keeping with the spirit of the Tax Task Force.
Some School Committee members have acknowledged in reviewing the arts space plan in recent weeks, however, that the proposed addition, while meeting the instructional needs and honoring the voters' decision not to support the full plan last year, does mean the existing auditorium will remain in place until such time as the town approves a replacement. And it looks like 2011 would be the soonest that would happen, as that is the target year for a new auditorium - estimated at $5.5 million - in the capital plan recently adopted by the Capital Committee and selectmen.
"Last year I was critical of that project, so I thought it was only fair tonight that I come forward because I am very, very supportive," Selectmen Vice Chairman Dwight Bardwell told the School Committee of the new proposal.
The School Committee has also approved the inclusion of a $200,000 project, to be paid entirely through existing fund balance, to replace the York High School bleachers and broadcast tower that were removed last year when they were deemed unsafe.
Only a handful of people spoke at the School Committee's public hearing on the capital proposals on Jan. 24, but the consensus was one of support for the current plan.
On the operating side of the budget equation, the schools have come in below and the town has met the 4.7 percent maximum increase in taxpayer impact as proposed by the Property Tax Task Force.
Both Superintendent of Schools Dr. Henry Scipione and Town Manager Rob Yandow were praised by the board members for their work in meeting those guidelines.
The School Committee discussed at length the proposal for a new full-day kindergarten program and weighed it against the need it creates to, once again, split up the second grade between two schools. The committee also weighed the recommendation against a proposal to begin foreign language instruction in the primary grades.
Several residents spoke against full-day kindergarten at last week's meeting, but the School Committee members ultimately decided that, based on educational quality and recommendations of a task force that studied the importance of full-day kindergarten, to keep the proposal in the budget as it moves forward to the Budget Committee for review.
The Budget Committee met Tuesday night, Jan. 30, at the York Public Library to begin the review process. See next week's edition of The Independent for more on the committee's wor
