Where Has All the Money Gone?

In Brunswick, we have been struggling with declining federal, state, and local revenues to fund the programs and services in our public schools.  We are not alone, most other Maine cities and towns face similar challenges. The municipal side of government has also seen declining revenue in recent years. Brunswick is home to formal and informal politically active groups of folks who regularly voice their views regarding town and school issues. Diverse community input presents positive opportunity for all. It also presents challenges for both the town side of government and the schools. As you might imagine, with a diverse citizenry there will be times when views on issues are different on either the merits of the issue, the timing of implementation, how to implement, or even how to fund or not fund an issue. Acknowledging the value of community input, I would like to focus this post on the financial implications of politically active groups in Brunswick and how the tactics used add to the financial challenges faced by both town departments and the school department. I will illustrate this using two examples.

An October 20, 2016, a Times Record newspaper article shared the continuing story of the fate of a tax acquired coastal property. The property included a dilapidated house, steep eroded banks to the shoreline, which became mudflats for great distances at low tide. After examining the issue, the Town Council voted to sell and return the property to the tax rolls of Brunswick. Proponents of selling the property reasoned that the property wasn't suitable for a public access park and the best use of the property would be returning the tax rolls to generate continuous tax revenue for the future. Proponents of retaining the property for town use believed the property to be a prized coastal access point and suitable for picnicking, swimming, clamming, and other public uses. Information related to both sides of the issue was gathered and considered. There was much public debate representing both sides of the issue. In the end, the prevailing vote centered on the town's need for revenue to support both town and school departments. After several days passed, the proponents of retaining the property announced their filing of a "formal request from the town for detailed information regarding the council's deliberations, including a complete record of all exchanges between councilors and the public, including letters, emails, and phone records".  It has been publicly stated they intended to formally petition all of Brunswick's citizens in an attempt to overturn the Town Council's vote. Now the town must spend money, the amount to be determined, in order to comply with this formal request and pending petition. Money which could be spent on programs and services that have been cut from the budget over the last several years.

The school department's School Board receives similar community input and action. Brunswick's school facilities include two schools which have serious issues and need to be replaced not only because they are old and outdated for modern programming, but they are also overcrowded. The school administration has had to develop a contingency plan for how students would be housed if a serious malfunction of the outdated systems within either of the two buildings failed and either one or both of the schools have to be closed. The public understands that there are no longer enough classrooms to accommodate the school population and doesn't want class sizes to increase. They also understand the serious nature of the health and safety issues of the buildings and don't want to have schools to have to run double sessions necessitated by a facilities malfunction. For the past 5 years, the School Board has attempted to plan for the building of a new school, hampered by the reality of the cost of a new school which would be locally funded because the state had not opened any rounds of state sponsored school construction applications. (The state has recently done so.) Additionally, organized groups within the community keep delaying the planning process because they would like to add a school configuration plan to the planning process. The School Board has discussed this several times and voted several times over the course of several years to not include it in the initial stages of planning process, agreeing to planning a 'configuration free' school, in which any grades can be housed. Meanwhile, in addition to the regular costs of planning a new school building, money has had to be spent on repairs and renovations on the very schools that would be replaced with new buildings to maintain the health and safety of the buildings. The crowding issue is unresolved after a petition process stopped a plan to move some children from the crowded schools to another school. In addition to the repairs and renovations costs, money has been spent on at least 15 different architectural drawing options and other costs in the first 5 years of this process, with more money spent this current year. Various cost budgets in the last 5 years have indicated probable sums of money for construction costs inflation from year to year.

Let's acknowledge that community input is valuable. Let's acknowledge that citizens have a right to petition their elected officials. Let's also ask the question, "At what point do the financial costs that have to be added to planning town or school projects because of these formal and informal actions of community groups become too great for the common good?"