The cost-share negotiation committee for School Administrative District 6 will meet Tuesday, Oct. 18, and local officials involved in the negotiation process are “optimistic” that the meeting will yield results.

The meeting is open to the public, and will start at 6 p.m. at the school’s Central Office in Buxton.

The negotiation process is part of a continued effort by residents of Frye Island, one town in a district that includes Standish, Buxton, Hollis and Limington, to be relieved of paying some taxes to the school.

Frye Island is a seasonal community of 524 on Sebago Lake. Although no children from Frye Island attend the district’s schools, the town contributed roughly $1.5 million of the $23 million provided by the district’s towns to the school budget. Including state aid, the school’s total budget is $46 million, according to the district website.

The Bonny Eagle district’s cost-share formula is based entirely on the tax valuation of the five towns. Representatives of Frye Island have proposed that a certain percentage of each town’s share be based on the number of students the town sends to the district, which would ultimately result in a tax decrease for the island residents.

The cost-share committee, comprising two representatives from each town, first met Sept. 26 with a state-approved facilitator. At the upcoming meeting on Oct. 18, the facilitator is expected to present a solution for the cost-share formula to the committee, which will vote on whether to send it to residents. Ultimately, any changes to the cost-share formula need to be approved by voters from all of the district’s municipalities.

Michael Delcourt, Standish town councilor and representative to the cost-share committee, said he is optimistic the meeting will result in a proposal that can be sent to voters.

Delcourt, a former member of the SAD 6 board with a 21-year history, said he does not want to provide tax relief to Frye Island if it means cutting the school budget.

If Frye Island pays less money into the district, the schools would be forced “to make cuts and they’re pretty bare bones over there now, they always have been,” he said.

Frye Island Town Manager Gary Donohue said of the cost-share committee, “Hopefully, they will be fair and realistic, because if not, the town of Frye Island will have to look at other options.”

Donohue declined to expand on what the other options would be.

From left, Gary Donohue, James Moses and Jake Stoddard listen at a meeting of the Frye Island Board of Selectmen and the School Administrative District 6 Board of Directors, held in May. The meeting aimed to create a dialogue between members of both communities regarding Frye Island’s contribution to the school district budget.