SOUTH PORTLAND – The cost of supporting the schools and local government could fall even harder on South Portland property taxpayers in the new fiscal year if Gov. Paul LePage and the Legislature cut state funding even more, as anticipated.

That was the message the members of the City Council and Board of Education heard last week during a joint workshop between the two bodies. Both Superintendent Suzanne Godin and City Manager Jim Gailey said they have not yet started the budgeting process, but did express serious concerns about vastly reduced state aid.

At the Dec. 10 workshop, Gailey said the biggest impact on the upcoming fiscal year 2015-2016 municipal budget would very likely be what happens in Augusta and whether the governor gets his way on eliminating municipal revenue sharing all together.

A proposal to cut or eliminate revenue sharing would face a divided Legislature, with Republicans controlling the Senate, and Democrats controlling the House.

In addition, Godin said with tweaks being made to the school funding formula, she’s afraid South Portland may see less state aid to education, particularly since the city’s overall valuation is fairly high with coastal properties and commercial development, particularly around The Maine Mall.

Both Gailey and Godin said they would keep close tabs on what happens once the newly elected Legislature gets back to work in January with Gailey saying it would be important to “make sure our voices are heard in Augusta.”

Godin said at the moment she has “more questions than answers” in terms of the new fiscal year budget. However, she said the school department is already anticipating an 8 percent increase in the cost of health care benefits and said the salaries for staff would also go up under previously negotiated pay increases.

In addition, Godin said she would like to get two new buses, hire two new custodians for the elementary schools and bring on board a communications director or web master, as well as fill a possible new teaching position.

She said the school department would also like to increase its $50,000 maintenance budget, arguing it’s important for the city to make a commitment to the upkeep of its eight schools, from the roofs to the floors.

On the municipal side, Gailey said the department heads have “not yet assessed their needs,” but he already knows that salary increases will cost an additional $300,000 in the new fiscal year and that health insurance for city employees will likely go up at least $145,000.

He also mentioned that electricity rates are set to rise significantly in the New Year and that the cost of streetlights is a “big line item” in the city’s annual budget. Gailey also said the city could float the bond for the new municipal services facility on Highland Avenue in the upcoming fiscal year.

Toward the end of the workshop tempers flared between Godin and Councilor Melissa Linscott, in particular, who expressed concern and disappointment with the failing grades some of the city’s schools have received from the Maine Department of Education in recent years.

However, Gaby Ferrell, one of the student representatives on the school board, said she doesn’t see the “walls crumbling in” and added she feels prepared to “move out into the world.”

“I don’t feel failed,” she said. “Every day I see staff and administrators helping each student to do their very best.”

And Councilor Claude Morgan said it would be better if councilors and school board members each “stayed on our side of the street,” adding that educational theory and practice is not “my bailiwick.”

The two boards are scheduled to meet again at 7 p.m. on Jan. 14 to begin budget deliberations.