By Ward Peck

Editor

    Each year during budget season, Cape Elizabeth
residents are reminded that they get a great value for the their tax
dollars; that it costs other municipalities more money to provide the
same level of service and while it may be Maine’s “Gold Coast” it’s
government is hardly “gold-plated.”

    But if you are not willing to take town official’s
word for it, each year Town Manager Michael McGovern produces an annual
“Benchmark survey,” which compares 80 different pieces of financial
data in ten different southern Maine communities to see how Cape
Elizabeth stacks up. The result is a treasure trove for numbers people
in not just Cape Elizabeth but other municipalities whose own officials
may not be so eager to go head to head with their neighbors in
measuring efficiency.

    The bench mark study, which can be found on the Cape Elizabeth town web site,
compares the town with both its geographic neighbors of Scarborough and
South Portland, demographic neighbors such as Falmouth, Cumberland,
Yarmouth and Freeport as well as several communities whose connection
to Cape Elizabeth is less clear, such as Brunswick, Gorham and Windham.

    In terms of population, the town ranked seventh on
the list, with 8,922 people in 2005, just above Yarmouth’s 8,257 and
just below Falmouth’s 10,601, but the six highest tax assessment in
2006 ($20.3 million). Falmouth ranked fourth ($25.4 million) and
Yarmouth ranked fifth ($22.7 million) in this measure Gorham with a
population (15,300) almost double that of Cape Elizabeth had a tax
assessment of $17 million– lower than all but tiny Cumberland
(population 7,656).

On a per-capita basis, Cape Elizabeth residents paid more in property
taxes ($2,278) than the average of the 10 communities ($1,963). The
community with the highest per capita tax assessment was Yarmouth and
the lowest per capita tax assessment was achieved by Gorham, which at
$1,120 is less than half that of Cape Elizabeth.

The benchmark study reveals one possible reason for Gorham’s low tax
burden is that the state pays almost two-thirds of Gorham’s $26 million
school budget last year. The state paid less than one-fifth of Cape
Elizabeth’s $17.6 million school budget.

But education spending isn’t the only area where other towns rely on to
a higher degree than Cape Elizabeth on other sources of revenue. The
study shows Cape Elizabeth’s town government relies on property tax
payers to fund 72 percent of the general fund, which is significantly
higher than the 66.2 percent average. Gorham receives more than 50
percent of its general fund revenue from other levels of government
(state and federal for example).

On the school side Cape Elizabeth spends more of its school budget, 71
percent, on instruction than all the other communities, but less than
the average in terms of dollar amount. Cape Elizabeth spends less than
the average in terms of both percentage of budget (eight percent versus
8.5 percent) and dollar amount per student $761 versus $865) on
administration costs. Scarborough, by comparison, blows away the
competition on both measures, spending just $521 per student or 5.6
percent of the budget in administration costs.

    On a per student basis, Cape Elizabeth is in the
middle of the pack in terms of total school budget, with the fifth
lowest per student costs at $9,468 and less than the average of
$10,154. While Yarmouth has the second to lowest total school budget
($17 million), squeaking under Cape Elizabeth, it paid the highest on a
per student basis– $2,600 more per student than Cape Elizabeth.

    South Portland, by comparison had the highest
overall total school budget ($36.2 million), the second highest
per-student cost ($11,775) and the third lowest state share of
education costs (17.3 percent).