Board member Mike Smith summed up the sentiments of the Edgecomb select board’s unanimous approval of a school committee request for a special town meeting stating, “With asterisks and caveats I agree with moving this warrant forward and allowing our citizens to decide this.” Selectmen approved a 21-article warrant Sept. 9, one day after the school committee voted to seek a special town meeting. 

On Aug. 29, residents rejected four of 19 school funding articles on the referendum town meeting warrant. Selectmen postponed the regular May public town meeting due to the coronavirus. A referendum voting format replaced the annual public meeting due to the state of emergency limiting public indoor meetings to 49 or fewer participants.

On Sept. 8, the school committee unanimously approved sending a 18-article town warrant for selectmen’s approval. The committee is still seeking an overall $3,312,286 budget, but made several concessions to earn selectmen’s support. 

The committee eliminated a $250,000 request for a non-lapsing capital improvement fund for repairing Edgecomb Eddy School’s roof. School officials replaced it with a request for up to $230,000 for remediating a mold problem discovered in August in the school’s lab. The new proposal doubles the amount of surplus funds from $100,000 to $200,000 to reduce taxpayer contributions for the 2020-21 budget. Another concession reduces the amount of exceeding the Essential Programs and Services request. In August, the committee sought to exceed the EPS formula by $875,000. On the special town meeting warrant, the proposal exceeds EPS spending by $775,114. 

Even with concessions, Selectman Ted Hugger voiced concerns that the overall education budget was still “too high” for taxpayers. For the past three years, selectmen have heard from residents concerned about out-of-control school spending. Hugger thought taking another $100,000 from surplus to fund the upcoming year’s budget was a step in the right direction which ultimately garnered his tepid support. 

“I still have reservations, but in the spirit of moving this forward, I will support it,” he said. 

Selectmen set a Thursday, Oct. 15 special town meeting referendum election date from 1 to 7 p.m. During the Sept. 8 regular board meeting, selectmen ruled out holding the vote on Election Day (Nov. 3) and preferred holding a public meeting. But potential public participation limitations due to Gov. Janet Mills’ Emergency Health Declaration resulted in settling for another referendum. Selectmen also placed two articles on the warrant.

Selectmen placed an article requesting moving the tax due date from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30, 2020. A second article is due to a clerical error on the Aug. 29 town warrant. An article mistakenly requested $97,000 for paving and repairing Cross Point Road, instead of requesting it for Mill Road.