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WINDSOR

August 27, 2010

School portion of town's tax drops

Spending being analyzed

By Mechele Cooper mcooper@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

WINDSOR -- Windsor is the first town in Regional School Unit 12 to have an analysis of its school expenditures.

The Finance Committee for RSU 12 -- which serves Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Westport Island, Whitefield, Wiscasset and Windsor -- is taking a closer look at how all its member towns spend their money by conducting a "Tax Rate Allocation and Analysis of 2009 and 2010 Tax Calculation and Commitment Forms."

Jerry Nault, chairman of the Finance Committee, said Windsor property taxes increased 20 cents per $1,000 of taxable valuation in 2010, from $12.20 to $12.40.

Breaking down the tax rate, Windsor's county tax went up 9 cents per $1,000 taxable valuation and municipal appropriations increased 48 cents per $1,000.

But the analysis found expenditures for local education decreased by 69 cents per $1,000 of valuation, he said.

Nault said Windsor is the only town so far that has completed its tax commitment -- a final tally of all the expenses that it expects to incur in fiscal year 2011 -- set a tax rate and sent out tax bills.

He said the analysis "helps us to understand where a town ends up spending its money."

Town Manager Theresa Haskell said Nault used numbers from the tax commitment for the analysis, but said there are other factors to consider.

"This was a bad year to show (town spending)," Haskell said. "The county tax went up this year, we have that six-month (county tax) commitment we're having to pay on. The town up and voted for extra money for roads, and revenues are down because of cuts to state revenue sharing and the Homestead Act, which is going to be down again next year.

"We ended up having some extra taxable value. That's why the (property tax) rate didn't increase as much as I anticipated."

Residents voted at a special town meeting on July 25 to allow selectmen to exceed the state-mandated tax cap for Windsor and spend the $50,000 appropriated at the annual June town meeting to fix roads.

Mechele Cooper -- 623-3811, ext. 408

mcooper@centralmaine.com

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