MOUNT DESERT — Selectmen here voted Monday to put an end to their controversial effort to change the Mount Desert Island High School funding formula.

Public opposition from the Mount Desert Elementary School (MDES) committee played a large role in board’s 4-1 decision to table, with no time constraints, the issue.

“We moved forward with what I think was somewhat reckless abandon,” said selectman Rick Mooers, “I personally don’t think we belong on this path.”
Acting chairman Patrick Smallidge, the most vocal opponent of the funding formula, cast the sole dissenting vote.

The formula, based on 67 percent property valuation and 33 percent enrollment, has long been a bone of contention for selectmen and a few vocal residents who argue that it penalizes the property-rich, child-poor town.

“We don’t have a funding formula problem, we have a valuation problem,” said Mr. Mooers.

Throughout the course of the funding formula debate, harsh language and threats of withdrawal made by selectmen have raised concerns for many island citizens and school committees. The issue came to a head after MDES school committee chairwoman Heather Jones drafted a letter on behalf of the committee calling the selectmen’s actions into question.

“For the past several years, members of the Mount Desert selectmen have thrown out statements of drastic measures they might take if the funding formula is not changed,” she said in the Jan. 26 letter. The letter emphasized that the members of the school committee do not stand behind the current tactics of the selectmen and asked to hear selectmen’s opinions on the issue at the Feb. 2 meeting.

Selectmen were receptive to the letter.

“I still think that there is an inherent flaw in the funding formula, but I don’t think that there is any gain from pursuing this any further,” said selectman Jeff Smith.
At the crux of the Mount Desert selectmen’s argument is the assertion that the formula is unfair due to a disparity in per-pupil cost. The town of Mount Desert does pay more than twice per-student than other member towns due to its high property valuation and low student enrollment. But, it actually pays less per household than the other member towns.

A property owner in Mount Desert with a home worth $350,000 paid $380 in taxes toward the cost of education this year, while a property owner in Bar Harbor with a home of the same value paid $550. As values increase, Mount Desert property owners continue to pay slightly less than Bar Harbor property owners with homes of the same value.

If judged by each town’s relative tax contribution, the formula is equitable. Under the formula, Mount Desert will raise 1.2 mills in tax effort to support the high school for the upcoming school year, while Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor and Tremont will raise between 1.6 and 1.7 each.

“When you look at property valuations, we are not getting a bad deal,” said Mount Desert selectman Chuck Bucklin.

Mr. Smallidge expressed concern that the town would continue to be held hostage to the formula by the high school’s member towns. “There will never be a fiscal reason for them to come to the table. They know that they have us and they are not going to let us go,” he said.

Although selectmen voted to close the door on the issue for the time being, area towns likely have not heard the last of it.

The debate on the funding formula dates back 40 years. Last December, selectmen drafted a letter underlining their insistence that the high school funding formula be altered. That letter, addressed to town councils and select boards in Bar Harbor, Tremont and Southwest Harbor, called for the towns to support a petition to amend the private and special act that created the high school in 1963. To alter that act, change would have to be made at the state level. The letter drafted by selectmen came on the heels of a public forum on the funding formula held earlier that month.

Bar Harbor and Southwest Harbor declined to sign on to the petition, but indicated a willingness to examine a specific proposal from the town if one were to be drafted. Tremont declined without such an offer.

“I would carefully note that the door has not been totally shut in Mount Desert’s faces’,” said Mr. Smallidge.

Mount Desert residents first approved the funding formula in 1963 as a desired alternative to a state-supported formula for the regional high school based on 100 percent valuation.

Despite selectmen’s decision Monday to table the issue, Mr. Smallidge expressed a desire to “pursue empowering our voters and give them the decision-making ability,” indicating that he’d like to see the issue brought to town meeting. Resident George Peckham raised concerns at the selectmen’s decision as well, asking, “Does it not concern you members of the board since Mount Desert seems to be turning into a community for retirees and summer residents?”

Planning board chairman Jim Bright spoke in support of the funding formula, but offered several other possible solutions to the per-pupil cost disparity. He suggested that selectmen pursue an increase in the high school’s tuition rates for neighboring towns. “They’re the ones who are getting away with bloody murder,” he said. He also suggested working to include tax-exempt properties in property valuation calculations for the purposes of the funding formula. To put either of Mr. Bright’s suggestions into action, laws would have to be changed at the state level.