At a recent Saco city council workshop reported on in a recent edition of the Journal Tribune, there were statements made by Thornton Academy’s board of trustees, Bill Kany, that I believe need clarification.   

The tuition paid to TA for each student is truly below the state average, but not because of any act of charity on TA’s behalf. That amount is the maximum set by the Maine Department of Education.  I also feel that TA’s excellent sports, arts and Advanced Placement (AP) programs available to Saco students are also not an act of charity.  

It is those very same programs that have drawn foreign students from all over the world to come live and study at TA. The trustees and management of TA are to be commended for expanding their private business that last year made over seven million dollars in profits. This accomplishment earned Headmaster Rene Menard a trip to the White House to be personally congratulated by President Obama. 

The reason I have submitted this letter is because I have the same concerns that were brought up by council member Nathan Johnston during that workshop. With their considerable profits, TA is again poised to purchase another tax generating private property and place it under its growing inventory of tax-exempt properties.   

Now who’s going to make up for this loss of tax revenue? Most likely it will be the rest of us property owners. I’m not suggesting we should be levying taxes on any property used for educational purposes, even if it is property owned by a private for profit business.  

But all the recently purchased properties next to the TA campus, the future purchase of the Winterhaven assisted living facility, and the dormitories built by TA have nothing to do with educating Saco students. They have been acquired to house foreign students and thus generate even more profits for TA. 

The City of Saco should support a successful private business like TA and allow them to continue their expansions. But, TA should at least offer to ease the property tax burden they are imposing on the rest of us by contributing a small percentage of their millions in profits; even if it’s only to offset their costs for city services. The program councilor Johnston was most likely alluding to is called “Payments in Lieu of Taxes” and many institutes of higher learning have voluntarily signed on to such a program.  

In future council meetings, counselors should discuss with TA the possibility of such a program being implemented in Saco. If not, councilors should at least explain to us how they plan on making up the loss of property tax revenue TA’s past and future expansions will cost all of us remaining tax payers.

Ted Sirois

Saco School Board – Ward 6

Saco