Here are the results of today’s votes
Registered Voters: 4764
Total ballots cast: 1335 28%
SAD 35 Budget Validation Referendum Passed
Shall MSAD35 accept the budget that was adopted at the Budget Meeting on June 5, 2008?
Yes 740 | No 581
South Berwick Charter Amendment Failed
Shall South Berwick amend its Charter to provide for the recall and removal from office of elected municipal officials?
Yes 498 | No 833
Maine state primary and referendum results to follow.
Although the teachers are trained to “deal” with children on the spectrum, they do not have the depth of knowledge to understand the unique needs of each of these children and understand what may be going on in that child’s head when things aren’t going well. Unless you have a child on the spectrum, you wouldn’t necessarilly fully understand what I’m talking about.
Please understand that I am also concerned with the cuts in personnel. I work in special education and have for the past 18 years. So although I don’t have a child with autism, I have worked with many different children on the spectum. I am however hopeful that the staff on board has the experience and expertise to provide an excellent education for all children.
I’m hopeful as well. I just know that the Autism specialist spent 7 years developing a program specific to the unique needs of children on the spectrum, and now there isn’t anyone to oversee it.
That van is costing us quite a bit in gas alone when you consider the person’s home is not only across state lines, but is 45 minutes away from here. At $4/gallon, that’s a lot of gas when you add it all up for the school year. Add that up with the laptops, and there’s some money there. I realize it’s not vast sums compared to the entirety of the budget, but it’s those “little” things add up. So many people were upset about town employees getting step increases, I hope those same people show up when we “negotiate” (that’s if we as taxpayers are even included in those discussions) a raise for our superintendent. He certainly makes more than most of the town employees do.
Yes. That is why I’m a little disappointed in people who’ve said they disagree with one part of the school budget, but voted for it anyway. That was the one way, as voters, that we could have sent a message to the school board.
Having seen what happens in other towns when a school budget doesn’t pass, I voted for it. I firmly believe that going back to the drawing board on the budget over the laptops and the van would have been a huge mistake. The vote taken at the budget meeting was the oppotunity to have those articles overturned. As it was passed by those residents at the meeting, so should it stand at the ballot box.
I do agree, though, that the school board has an opportunity to do the right thing and decline on the laptops. Just because the money is in the budget, doesn’t mean that it has to be spent….
I don’t agree with mrspeel when he/she says if it passed at the meeting then it should pass at the ballot box. Some people could not make it at that meeting and that is why their vote counts at the ballot box. The van, the laptops as well as the increase in administrative personnel should have been enough for the school budget to not have passed. Unfortunately it did, but not by a wide margin. The citizens of South Berwick and Eliot need to make the school board understand that they need to do more by cutting some of these accesses.
You all are underestimating the power of inertia. Budgets have passed year after year. They never fail. So you have a sizeable portion of the population that believes it is useless to come out and vote against it.
Also, how many people knew about all the superfluous fat? Yes, all the people here who are the “involved”. Most folks in town simply don’t have the time to get into the mechanics of what’s going on, much less individual line items on the School budget. That’s why the Board was so comfortable about putting in the computers, and then, despite objections during the working group sessions, just keeping it in the final draft. Same goes for the van.
If we want to change this, you’ve got to blast away the inertia. My suggestion would be, for next time, is to go thru the Budget line by line, and then write up all the objections. Highlight the fat. And then, print out 2K of them, and take an afternoon and ride around and stick it in every mailbox in town.
If more people knew what was in the budget, and that they were not alone in being pretty angry, you’d find more people showing up to vote, and to vote against the budget.
I think the statement “Just because the money is in the budget, doesn’t mean that it has to be spent….” is rather naive. Does anyone REALLY think that they won’t spend every last cent? Really? Or does any ‘extra’ get shuffled off to the reserve that ‘can’t’ be touched? Because I doubt it will ever come back to the voters in the form of a savings, or tax cut. I think the Board is fiscally irresponsible, and I have no trust or faith in them whatsoever to reign in their demands and their spending. Show me some fiscal restraint, show me a ‘think-outside-the-box attitude, show me how the board works WITH their community to meet the needs, then I’ll change my mind about them.
I think they are complacent in their irresponsibility. Unless we get a budget turned down a time or two in the next year or two, its just going to get worse.
Meanwhile, do we know if they all went to Best Buy today and bought their new computers? And how about that van? Can’t wait to see how much that costs…I say the guy gets it fully loaded and with GPS added…so he doesn’t get lost between here and his home in NH when he “has to come in at night”.
Sally–Please refrain from making accusations about people. We hear you are angry about the school budget. These are people who live and/or work in South Berwick. Please treat them with respect on this blog.
Molly, that a mildly sarcastic comment is considered “inappropriate” or disrespectful or making an accusation speaks absolute volumes about why the School Board feels so free, so complacent to disregard taxpayer objections.
volumes.
Sally–I would have said the same thing no matter where the persons work. Sarcasm does not translate well to internet comments and some may read it as fact. I ask commenters to put themselves in the shoes of the person they are speaking about.
Sally,
Just an FYI, the van the facilities manager is using is already in existence and in use. It may be scheduled for replacement soon, but I don’t know that it is.
I don’t have a problem with the manager using a school van to go from school to school during the work day. There are time he may need to bring some bulky items from place to place, and insurance may be a problem if something were to happen during working hours if he were to use personal transportation at that time.
What I do object to is the little perks like the ability to travel back and forth to work on the tax payers dime.
This added mileage shortens the amount of time the vehicle can be used for school purposes prior to being replaced.
In fact, the van to be used in this regard could be one of the older vans that are now used to transport children, but is targeted for replacement.
Replace the transport van, and put the older one in use for the facilities manager to use localy during work hours, thus adding 1-2 years of use.
The Superintendent called my yesterday to answer the questions that I had posted both here and to the School Board. I asked him to please e-mail me so I can post his response…he said he rather not. So I will be on the agenda at the next school board meeting, June 18 @ 7 pm, at the high school. I am on the agenda to address the questions pertaining to the van and the truck that goes to Waterboro. I want it to be part of the minutes and public record for the future budget. Just a little hint on his answers, the truck that goes to Waterboro it’s another perk for another employee. How many more are there?
ladyjane calling the kettle black again!what part of personal attack do you get out of that post.
that is the attitude of all you bigtime bloggers on this site.lets take everything to the extreme as usual huh.like hank said “get a grip”. you wouldnt want us to to pesonally attack you.
its crazy that you sit and spew your views all day long and as soon as someone states the obvious,oh no,personal attack!!! i guess someone had to say it and look,im not the only one who thinks that.
sally is putting the town in a negative light and i have said it to
“kc” its not that bad. ladyjane try to get over yourself for once!
‘
Wow, I’m a big-time blogger? Thanks. I actually wasn’t responding to Hank, I was responding to YOU, and I wasn’t saying that I was personally attacked. Not sure what your point is. But, I’ll defer to Molly. If she thinks I overstepped my bounds you’ll be the first person I spew my apologies to Tim.
tim-Stop with the name calling. If what you read on this makes you mad, don’t read it. And everyone else, please act as though you were in the same room with the people on the blog. We don’t have to all agree but we can state our opinions respectfully. Since I read all the posts, I can see how one snide or sarcastic comment just sends the whole discussion into a negative spin. When people are discussing respectfully we get to hear good ideas, viewpoints we may have never heard, and we get to learn more about the town. I firmly believe that if all citizens get to hear many viewpoints and can learn more about what happens in town we will make better decisions as a town. There is certainly enough strife in the world, why would we want to create more of it in the town where we live and where our children live?
To the people saying move out if you don’t like paying high taxes around here… That is the most luducris thing I have ever heard. Citizens come here to voice concerns about South Berwick. Everyone has a right to their opinion. South Berwick taxes and Maine in general cannot keep going up. Maine has one of the lowest rates of youth staying in this State. We keep going at that rate and we’re all doomed. The taxes in South Berwick are out of control for such a small town.
The sad thing is that no one can voice their opinion about the school budget because they are then anti school. It’s a joke.
To me it seems Maine is all about taxing to help people instead of letting people TAKE CARE OF THEMSELF! So when a petition came out to repeal the bottle tax, I got flyer after flyer teling me to not sign the petition. Well, I did because what’s next? Oh yeah, now we South Berwick Citizens have to pay for trash bags and the town isn’t even going to pick it up for us like surrounding NH towns. You know what happens next? The Citizens decide to pay for trash pickup through WM or local trash removal services so the town doesn’t get the money they anticipate. If you are going to pay for it, you might as well pay for someone to remove it from your curb.
I will not move, because I like the school district that my kids are accustomed too. I wouldn’t hurt them even though finanically I am hurting! I’m not to knowledgable about teacher salaries and where all the money is going at the school so I can’t really say don’t give them the money, but how do other States in this Country do it? How does NH tax so little and Maine tax at the top? Our schools I feel are better then NH? But is it $6,000 (estimated income tax, bottle tax, sales tax, etc) better per family? I don’t think so…
Also, how many police officers are in this town? I’m am not saying get rid of cops, because they are needed. I am asking because we are a young family that never have been involved in any local budgets. We are just starting to read and research local government and I THANK whoever created this website. I’m curious how many officers there are and why was there ever a need for a $30k (not including decals and equipment) Ford Expedition? I hear decals and equipment going into police vehicles cost upwards of $20K in addition to the MSRP on the vehicle. Would saving $5-8K for a Ford Explorer been worth it? I realize there is some rugged terrain around these parts. I saw Eliot’s Suburban the other day and almost threw up. If an individual has the money for a Suburban ($50K) so be it, have fun. But the taxpayers of Eliot paid for a brand new Suburban? That’s crazy.
Jesse,
I believe their are currently 8 officers, but the department got the approval to hire an investigator, which will bring it to 9.
Please replace their with there
Sorry. Didn’t realize someone would nitpick on my grammar. I’ll admit I am no College Scholar. I am in the trades. I guess I have no excuse.
How do people feel about having 8 Officers plus a Investigator in a Town of 7,000 Citizens. Do we really need an Investigator I guess the extremes are evident. We have 8 Officers plus an Investigator, and a town like Lebanon has no Police Officers. I don’t agree with Lebanon at all, but it seems extreme to have 9 Officers in this Town.
Sorry Dave… LOL. I take it you were referring to yourself? I make grammatical errors all the time so I figured that was directed at me.
Jesse- I can’t imagine it would be more cost effective for most people to pay for trash pickup versus paying $1 a bag. For the general population that is carefully watching the money the spend it doesn’t seem feasible. We’re a family of four and between recycling and composting we’ve been able to limit our weekly trash to just a couple of bags. I’m guessing WM would be a considerable amount more.
While I don’t necessarily like taking my weekly trip to the transfer station (road rage center of SB) and feel the setup could be much more efficient I give the town a lot of credit for committing to recycling early on. And the people that work there are surprisingly helpful and friendly.
Glad to see you’re becoming more involved in learning more about the town and how it’s run. I’ve just recently started doing the same… starting by attending the school budget meeting. That was an eye opening experience for certain. The biggest surprise was learning that I would learn something of value from some of the folks that had differing ideas than me. On occasion I even found myself agreeing with some of their individual points.
My general advice is to try and keep an open mind even when you think your mind is made up… but do your own research and don’t buy into rhetoric, speculation and opinion until you know what the facts are.
Jesse,
)
There are 168 hours in a week.
168 divided by 40 = 4.2 officers (never seen a .2 before
Some shifts require more than one officer.
Officers are allowed days off.
Officers go on vacation and call in sick.
With only 4.2 officers, there would be several days when an officer pulls 2 shifts.
This would increase mistakes, unhappiness, lack of job applicants, etc…
The investigator is new.
The idea is to have the patrolmen patroling instead of inside the office investigating.
Thanks for your post Jesse,
I have been told I am just “complaining” or that I don’t want to pay for the services in this town.
I think it’s pretty mean spirited as well as ridiculous to say “move out” if you don’t want to pay for them.
When I was going to Central School during the paleolithic period, I used to hear my parents complain about their taxes in SB. Now that I am paying taxes, I have a better understanding of their concerns.
I don’t want to take anything away from anyone. I love this town. I don’t want to move. Some people have been pushed out because they can’t afford to live here anymore (Mostly those on fixed incomes).
That is sad and also, it is hurting the culture of the place. If I am the only one who is worried about being able to come up with the BIG increase in taxes, so be it. It’s my problem. But if there are others living in SB who live paycheck to paycheck, maybe they are worried too.
AC,
I believe WM gets around $75 a quarter. My family throws probably 4 bags of trash away per week. So yes, you would be saving $9/month to go to the transfer station. I see that every little bit counts, but is $9 worth the hassle of going to the station, and dealing with the choas and traffic at the station?
Either way, it seems to me that the town council needs to keep finding money elsewhere rather then raise taxes and fees.
They won’t. But into your formula, don’t forget to add the cost of gas to get to the dump, then idling while there. It might just come out pretty close.
Jesse- thanks for the info about WM. Certainly can’t beat the convenience of home pick-up. Even a better deal for those that live further away.
to answer jesse’s questions.the need for the officers is there.
just look at the call volume they do.
then go to berwick and see how many fulltime officers they have.
we do have a large area to cover and i think all the townspeople deserve to see an officer ride by at least once a day.
we could actually could use more on the weekends due to volume of activity and for safety of our officers.
the iv
investigator is also needed,because of the increase of crime.we are no different than other towns as far as crime but it will always increase as we grow.
high gas prices make people due strange things to get by.
I agree with AC. If WM was smart, they’d put together an incentive program for new customers in South Berwick. I’m sure they’d get a fair amount of business. We’re going to definitely check them out.
That was me.
hey ladyjane did you get picked on as a child?you always say we and by that i mean men call people names when i cant see it ever!
and as usual molly jumps to defend the women geesh!!!
if this is suppose to be a diner,i dont think you have ever been in one.
its a joke!you always come out swinging like a maniac to defend something that isnt even there.and then you look for support from all the others.you made me laugh when you said i was responding to YOU,big giant letters you must be yelling at the computer.you invest way to much emotion into this.dont let it get you down.now im laughing.THANKS!!!
Did a little reserch for some of your questions Jesse. The Ford expidition the town owns is five years old and has amost 100 thousand miles. It is used during all snow storm with no need to chain cars tires. It was used during floods and extreme storms. It cost 25,000 and had 5000 worth of equpt. installed. The lettering was added by a local taxpayer at his business. cost approx 600 dollars. Total cost for the vehicle 31,000 it still runs well and the dept hopes to keep it a couple more years if possible. It is very easy to get the correct info prior to getting on here and talking uninformed.
Thanks for the correction. Like I said, we are a young family and don’t know the ropes as to where to get this information. I’m sure you know someone at the department or work there to be able to get this information?
Remember though, my question didn’t have anything to do with the cost of the lettering or equipment ( that stuff is relative and a must). My question was to saving a few bucks and getting a smaller SUV. So you can say I am uninformed but I didn’t question the lettering or equipment.
government and I THANK whoever created this website. I’m curious how many officers there are and why was there ever a need for a $30k (not including decals and equipment) Ford Expedition? I hear decals and equipment going into police vehicles cost upwards of $20K in addition to the MSRP on the vehicle. Would saving $5-8K for a Ford Explorer been worth it? I realize
Jessie This is your quotecurious how many officers there are and why was there ever a need for a $30k (not including decals and equipment) Ford Expedition? I hear decals and equipment going into police vehicles cost upwards of $20K in addition to the MSRP on the vehicle. Would saving $5-8K for a Ford Explorer been worth it? I realize
Jesse,
I think I can answer the latter part of your question. In New Hampshire, Expeditions (police versions) are on the state contract, Explorers are not. I believe the Maine state contract is similar. This makes the price difference between the 2 negligible as the Expedition is better suited for severe duty. Generally equipment is in the $4-6k range, interestingly enough equipping an Explorer is MORE expensive than an Expedition due to the need for vehicle specific equipment. In the interest if full disclosure I work for a police vehicle up fitter.
Nick,
Thank You very much. Your information is appreciated as I didn’t know how that worked. I’d rather have an Expedition over an Explorer also if they were comparable in price. In my case they are not, but the State contract would make sense to go for the Expedition.
Anonymous,
My quote does not question the price of the decals and equipment, it questions the price of vehicles. I didn’t know how much decals and equipment are, I was told they are really expensive by a friend. It doesn’t matter how much the decals and equipment are because they aren’t a want, they are a need. Nick has cleared this up and stated how the State contracts work into vehicle pricing.
Jesse, You’re welcome. Like I said, I can only speak for sure on NH contracts, but I know Maine has a contract as well I’m just not versed on the particulars.
Never let anyone on the blog put down your questions, that’s what people are here for. The fact that you even question how things work puts you in a small minority of taxpayers who actually want to be informed.
Nick,
I couldn’t agree more.
People need to feel free to ask questions on anything they don’t understand.
It’s the only way we can have an informed population so that people can make informed decisions when they vote, or want to speak at town meetings, etc…
Agree, there is a need to ask questions. But please ask, do not try to analyze a situation or issue without being informed. Questions are great but !!!! I guess You know what I mean.
Thanks Nick.
You said what I was thinking.
People need to be a lot more tolerant of others. I guess it can hurt when someone asks “the wrong questions”, or is not “informed”. They should suck it up. This is a public forum. Let the people speak.
FYI- Maine School Administrative District No. 35
Board of Directors – Regular Meeting
Marshwood High School
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 – 7:00 p.m.
Agenda: item 3. Analysis of FY 09 Transportation Wages and Van for Facilities Director.
Please come and get informed! Plus I wouldn’t mind a little support. Thanks in advance.
Catalina,
What kind of support are you looking for? Just curious as I am intrigued by actually going to a School Board of Directors meeting. I have never been to one before.
I’ll have to support you from afar. I have a previous engagement and am unable to change it. Looking forward to hearing how it goes, though. I’ll be sure to be at the next one.
Catalina,
My wife and I will be trying to attend.
I’d also like to know why the Assistant Superintendant’s salary and benefits don’t fall under the Superintendant’s budget.
According to the boar at the budget meeting on June 5th, that falls under supplies and equipment.
Jesse,
I am asking for people to come out to the meeting at 7:00, tonight. I have posted the questions and I need to know that the public is interested in pursuing the facts about the budget. Action is louder than words! Bring another tax paying friend. We need to call the school board on some of their decisions. Are they willing to forgo their laptops even though they’ve been approved? How about the superintendent.
For those of you who can’t go, thanks for your support also. The answers should be posted in the minutes of the meeting. This is why I want all questions asked of the school board, answered at the meetings. To make them public record.
I don’t understand this obsession with the laptops. The Board has obviously determined that with transmission of the thousands of douments they need to review, that the convenience of standardized formats and modern methods for transmission and review will save them time and make them more efficient. They will save also on postage, and much, much, paper. In my business, those dollars are “short dollars”, very well spent. I mean, we are talking maybe $5,000 here, with direct $$ savings, and also increased efficiency. That’s a trivial amout compared to teh total budget, if it accomplishes these goals.