By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

Cape Elizabeth residents will have a third chance to comment on next year’s school budget at a public hearing Monday, and possibly a third option to weigh in with their thoughts when they vote on the third school budget validation referendum Sept. 2. 

Earlier this week the town council agreed to postpone a public hearing and town council vote on a $19.8 million, 5.3 percent increased budget from last year – originally scheduled for Aug. 11 – to allow time to, as Councilor Jim Rowe said, “smooth out the bumps in the road.” 

“I don’t think anyone thought this budget was going to be an easy one, and it certainly hasn’t disappointed,” he said. 

The 5.3 percent budget increase over last year’s budget prepared by Superintendent Alan Hawkins is $131,500 less than the 6 percent budget rejected by 44 votes June 22. Hawkins said more than $3,000 allocated for funding the school’s Camp Kieve programs and several existing positions, including a full time psychologist and the school’s curriculum director, will be eliminated for a total savings of more than $100,000. To reach the 5.3 percent mark, any possibility of hiring a new part time technology technician will also have to be abandoned, saving more than $27,000, Hawkins said.

If the 5.3 percent increased budget is approved by voters three new positions, including an athletic director and a school nurse will be filled, Hawkins said. The newly revised budget also increases the amount of funding allocated for energy costs by $25,000 as school officials become more and more concerned about the cost of heating oil this winter.

“We are making changes that will directly affect students,” School Board Vice-Chairman Patricia Brigham said shortly before the board approved recommending the 5.3 percent budget to the town council with a 5 to 1 vote. School board member Peter Cotter was in the minority.

Both previous ballots, one for a 4.6 percent budget increase – rejected by voters May 27 in what David Hillman, a member of the town’s Citizen Advocates for Public Education called a “super majority” – and another for a 6 percent increase budget, featured an “advisory” question asking voters if they thought the proposed budget was too high or too low. In May, 1,638 voters said the 4.6 percent budget was too low, and in last month’s referendum, 1,141 voters said a 6 percent budget was too high. 

This time, councilors agreed to include a third option for residents voting on the 5.3 percent increased budget, which is exactly halfway between 4.6 and 6 percent. 

“We need an option for people who want to vote ‘Yes’ and still fill in another circle,” Councilor David Backer said. 

The council unanimously approved including an “Acceptable” vote – along with usual “Too High” or “Too Low” options – on the advisory question with a 5 to 0 vote, as councilors Sara Lennon and Cynthia Dill were absent from the meeting. 

“I’d accept that,” Councilor James Rowe joked before the vote.

If the council approves the 5.3 percent budget increase after Monday’s public hearing, the third school budget validation referendum will be Sept. 2. Town Clerk Ruth Noble said absentee ballots for the Sept. 2 referendum could be available as early as Aug. 19, the morning after the council vote.