When Durham residents considered withdrawal from Regional School Unit 5 in 2012, the Town Council established a committee to crunch some numbers and advise people what such a move would cost them.

When residents saw that the price tag was $1.1 million, they decided by a 1,718-650 vote to maintain the status quo.

Withdrawal is once again an issue in Durham, and this time no such cost estimates will be available before the vote to see if residents want to study withdrawal. Jeff Wakeman, chairman of the Board of Selectmen, said last week that a public hearing will be scheduled at least 10 days prior to the April 1 municipal elections, when residents will vote whether to initiate the multi-step process of withdrawal, as laid out by the education commissioner.

The petition for withdrawal was submitted to the Town Office last fall, and verification of the 214 needed signatures took place in mid-October.

“Last time, a committee looked at what might happen,” Wakeman said. “This time, the time frame was shortened, and we did not have time for that.”

Instead, residents will be provided an estimate of mostly legal fees to study withdrawal. The Freeport Town Council authorized spending of up to $50,000 two years ago for its withdrawal study. Freeport residents later decided to remain with RSU 5, in a close vote.

“We’re probably going to do that sharing (of withdrawal costs) at the public hearing,” Wakeman said.

Whatever cost figure comes up at the public hearing, that will not include the town’s share of a $14.6 million renovation of Freeport High School.

A departure from RSU 5, which also includes Freeport and Pownal, resurfaced in Durham late last summer, when Durham Get & Go owner Donna Church allowed a petition to be placed at her store on Royalsborough Road. Church told the Tri-Town Weekly that she was not the person who initiated the petition drive, and town officials have consistently said they do not know that person’s identity.

RSU 5, meanwhile, got a 7.77 percent budget increase passed last summer, equating to an 8.71 percent tax increase for education in Durham and adding $1.45 per $1,000 to the tax rate.

Selectman Michael Stewart said he favors withdrawal from RSU 5. Stewart has said publicly that taxes are “eating everybody up” in Durham. He also complains that RSU 5 makes its renovations in Freeport schools.

“The money that’s getting paid in there from the town of Durham is too much,” Stewart said. “Our tax bills just keep going up every year. Since RSU 5 started up, we’ve had a lot of money thrown around Freeport schools. The school in Pownal is in disarray, and I don’t see a lot of tax dollars going there.”

Stewart said he would like to know the cost of leaving RSU 5, as town residents did four years ago.

“I’m asking all the time,” he said. “I asked about a committee. It seems like it went in one ear and out the other. This is a big vote. It’s very frustrating. I’d like to see some numbers.”

Kevin Nadeau, who regularly attends RSU 5 board meetings, opposes withdrawal. Nadeau, a member of the Durham Budget Committee, disputes the notion that Durham is full of low-income residents who can’t afford to support RSU 5 budget requests. In fact, he said, the town’s steadily increasing state valuation is more reflective of the cost of education, he said.

“Durham and Pownal are getting big tax increases because of the changes in property valuations, not because of the RSU,” Nadeau said. “When their property values go up, the local cost of education goes up. I don’t think that people are aware of that.”

To illustrate his point, Nadeau provided a link to towns in the state ranked by median household income, www.zipatlas.com/us/me/city-comparison/median-household-income.htm. Based on 2010 U.S. Census data, Durham is No. 14 in median income out of 392 communities. Pownal is 17th and Freeport is 20th.

“The narrative coming from the pro-withdrawal side that Durham is poorer than other area communities, or that we have a larger percentage of senior citizens on fixed incomes than other towns, is just not true,” he said. “That’s not to say that there aren’t people that struggle in our town. Of course there are. Nothing is ever going to change that, regardless of what school system we are in. However, we are much better off than the vast majority of communities in Maine. There’s this myth out there that Durham is a poor town. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Nadeau, who has two children in RSU 5 schools and whose wife is a speech language pathologist in the school system, said that the average increase in budgets since RSU 5 was formed is less than 4 percent – even with last year’s 7.8 percent hike. The average increase in school costs prior to the formation of RSU 5 was 5 percent, he said.

While Nadeau supports RSU 5, he has cautioned against big spending increases at board meetings.

“I want the RSU to have what it needs,” he said, “but not everything on a wish list.”

Nadeau said there is no financial gain for Durham in leaving RSU 5. Above and beyond the cost of withdrawal, Durham residents must pay their share of the $14.6 million renovation of Freeport High School – withdrawal or no withdrawal.

Nadeau also vouched for the programming offered in the district.

“Staying in the RSU is in the best interests of the kids academically, and I also believe it’s in the best interests of the taxpayers,” he said.

Michelle Ritcheson of Durham, chairwoman of the RSU 5 Board of Directors, has been through the travails of withdrawal. She was chairwoman of the RSU 5 Working Group, which consisted of board members from Durham and Pownal who represented RSU 5 in negotiating the terms of withdrawal with the Freeport Withdrawal Committee.

“I think the important number, which I don’t think we will have, is how much it’s going to cost to run the schools on a stand-alone basis versus what we’re paying today,” Ritcheson said.

Ritcheson also is concerned with voter turnout at the municipal elections.

“That’s going to be the key,” she said.