BRUNSWICK

Back to the abacus for Gary Brown and Paul Perzanoski.

Although residents now face only a 10.4 percent property tax increase next year — instead of the projected 12 percent announced April 23 — that’s still too steep for the Town Council.

So, after Monday’s Town Council meeting, Brown and Perzanoski have been charged with finding further reductions to their proposed budgets for 2014.

The pair will convene “sometime during the next few days,” Brown said, to try to hit their new spending target which councilors defined as a property tax increase of 5 percent to 7 percent more than current levels.

Near the end of Monday’s meeting, Brown revealed that changes in property assessments, departmental savings and forgiveness of a $400,000 loan from the town to the schools had produced a 1.6 percent, or $576,000, reduction in the school department’s proposed 2014 budget.

Brown said those savings had been discovered during budget workshops last week.

School spending had been proposed to increase by about 6.7 percent over current levels, or about $2.2 million, to $35.7 million for next year. Most of the local increases would make up for reductions in — or elimination of — state and federal education funding.

Meanwhile, town expenses are projected to rise 1.4 percent over the current level of $25.1 million — to hire replacement staff, renovate buildings and provide for operating costs at the new police station.

For almost two hours Monday, members of the public emphasized that, while they agree school funding is important, a tax increase that high won’t fly.

Sixteen speakers took to the podium Monday to comment. Some lobbied for restoration of previously cut staff positions, such as teachers in the Gifted and Talented programs. Others called for cuts in town spending to make up for shortages in the school budget.

Most agreed that Perzanoski and the school board had struggled to prepare a lean and transparent budget against diminishing resources.

“They’ve put forward a modest but adequate budget. Years of revenue cutting at the federal and state level have left you holding the bag, and that bag is empty,” said Longellow Street resident Vladimir Dahovnikoff. “We can’t do this alone, we need help from the state. We all know that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, so it’s time for the elected leaders of this town to start squeaking.”

“We stand behind the budget that (school board chairman) Jim Grant and Paul Perzanoski put in place,” said Sarah Singer, speaking for local grassroots school support group Brunswick Community United.

“While I disagree with the governor’s initiative to give letter grades to schools … if the letter grades prove one thing, it’s that the wealth of the community is a direct correlation to the quality of the schools, which is why Cape Elizabeth and Falmouth and Yarmouth got ‘A’s and Rangeley got an ‘F,’ and in Brunswick we fall somewhere in the middle.

“We have a socioeconomically diverse community,” Singer added. “Some have a lot, some have very little, and being asked to shoulder these costs year in, year out, is certainly taking its toll on our town.”

Budget adoption is scheduled for May 23, with several workshops scheduled during the next two weeks.

jtleonard@timesrecord.com