Town Council to review
$43.1M school budget

The Town Council was expecting to receive the School Committee’s proposed $43.1 million  budget Wednesday, Council Chairman Suzanne Phillips said.

The owner of a home valued at $250,000 would the schools’ share of their property taxes increase $112.5 under the proposal.

The proposed budget is up $2.1 million, or 5.1%, over this year’s budget, and would result in a 4.46% increase in local property taxes. The tax rate would increase 45 cents, to $13.15 per $1,000 of valuation, based on the current level of state subsidy and preliminary figures for the town’s total valuation.

The total local tax amount to support education in Gorham this year was $12.70 per thousand of valuation.

The budget will be discussed May 12 at a joint Town Council and School Committee workshop. The School Committee passed its budget April 15.

The proposed school budget includes $150,000 requested by the Town Council for a reserve account for unfunded summer benefits.

Absentee ballots

Absentee ballots are available for the July 14 state primary/referendum and local school budget election.

An absentee ballot can be requested by visiting maine.gov/cgi bin/online/AbsenteeBallot/index.pl or by calling the Town Clerk’s office at 222-1670.

Historical Society meeting canceled

Gorham Historical Society will not meet May 11 as scheduled.

U.S. taxpayer debt

The Bureau of the Fiscal Service reported on April 23 that the U.S. public debt was $24,705,155,334,862.85.