Scarborough Council Chairwoman Jessica Holbrook was clear this week that she would not support a 6 percent proposed increase in spending, while other councilors stressed there’s still a long way to go before a final budget is adopted.

Under the nearly $80 million spending package unveiled last week, residents could see a 8.5 percent tax rate increase to $1.28 per $1,000 of valuation, which represents an increase of almost $4.6 million, according to documents presented to the council by Town Manager Tom Hall. The increase would cost an additional $383 for a property worth $300,000.

The proposed municipal budget for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1, is $30.4 million, which is a $1.1 million increase in spending. The proposed school budget stands at nearly $47 million, which represents an increase of about $3.3 million.

The sharp increase in school spending includes a proposal to spend $935,000 on new technology, including laptops for every high school student; a $336,173 increase in debt service; and an additional $386,000 for what the school department is calling an education improvement plan.

Hall presented the combined municipal and school budgets to the council at its meeting on April 1. After hearing the initial details, Holbrook told the Current, “I do not support the proposed budget for several reasons – the first being the total cumulative impact to the tax levy.”

Holbrook’s second reason for not being able to support the budget, she said, is that there are no new staff positions for municipal departments, which “does not achieve the council goal of maintaining essential services.”

Of particular concern is not keeping up with the personnel needs of the fire and rescue departments, she said. Holbrook said with the number of volunteer firefighters decreasing and call volumes going up, the town must do something to ensure public safety.

“The town has deviated from the fire department staffing program for years and we are behind 26 positions,” Holbrook said this week.

That’s why her focus during the upcoming budget deliberations will be on both “the total impact to the tax levy” and “the appropriate funding to provide essential services in areas like public safety and education.”

Overall, Holbrook is looking forward ‘to hearing the individual department budget proposals,” as well as the details of a proposal to implement a pay-to-throw trash disposal program, which the council is set to discuss at a workshop scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 15.

Like Holbrook, Councilor Peter Hayes said he could not support the nearly $80 million combined budget, and admitted to being “a little surprised” by the proposal to increase spending by about 6 percent.

“I think constituents have been pretty clear that they’re feeling the (impact of increasing taxes) and my goal and expectation would be to deliver a budget that’s closer to the consumer price index,” Hayes said this week.

“I have a whole bunch of questions and we need to do a lot of due diligence,” he added, but also said the most important thing is for the public to become engaged in the debate regarding the proper level of spending.

“We need to hear from the public,” Hayes said. “Everybody needs to get engaged and we need open communication about how to best spend our resources. We need help to make the hard choices.”

Meanwhile, Councilor Jean-Marie Caterina said it’s important for the public to realize that the spending package, as it now stands, is a proposed number, with “emphasis on ‘proposed.’” She added that the combined budget Hall presented last week is just “a starting point.”

Caterina said the council would take “input from the public” in order to derive a final budget number.

“There are a series of meetings throughout April, all of which will serve to better inform me and others as to what the final budget number will be,” she added.

For her the key will be to “ascertain the best level of funding to promote tax stability in Scarborough.”

Councilor Shawn Babine said the key for him would be to remain “open-minded” while tackling “one of the toughest budget years” the town has experienced in a while.

He called the municipal portion of the budget “extremely reasonable” and “nearly flat” and said his goal is to understand the impact of the proposed pay-to-throw program, as well as items requested by department heads that did not make it into the town manager’s budget.

“We’re getting a lot of feedback,” Babine said, adding that the key “will be to find a balance between the strong educational advocates and those who want to see tax cuts.”

Hayes said he’s heard from a number of residents since the proposed budget was presented last week, and the general tone of those conversations is, “We just can’t afford this.”

What Superintendent George Entwistle hopes the council and public will keep in mind is that the school department is “making positive gains in the quality of our schools, and continuous, predictable, small incremental investments are needed to maintain our momentum and to build upon earlier investments made by the community.”

He added that the schools can’t be run like a business.

“We cannot shut down, reduce shifts or curtail operations, nor do we have any other revenue sources other than the state subsidy and local (tax dollars).”

Entwistle said part of the increase in school spending is due to a significant loss in the town’s general purpose aid to education, which early numbers from the Maine Department of Education indicate is about $1 million.

As for the $386,000 to support the school department’s education improvement plan, Entwistle said that money represents “less than 1 percent of the school budget,” and an “investment of this size is really quite small given the fact that it is focused on improving the education of more than 3,100 students.”

The improvement plan includes expanding the Jumpstart school readiness program in the primary schools, restoring the world language program and increasing guidance services at the middle school, along with hiring a new technology integrator at the high school, among other goals.

Overall, Entwistle said, the additional dollars, which include six new positions, along with the laptops at the high school, are “mission-critical investments,” which is why he included them in the proposed budget.

State Rep. Heather Sirocki, R-Scarborough, disagrees, however. In a letter to the editor in this week’s issue of the Current, she said that providing laptops to high school students would permanently increase the school budget. “Start-up costs and ongoing expenses are significant,” she added.

Sirocki also expressed concern that a focus on new technology could “potentially crowd out other necessary classroom items.” In addition, she feels that such a large commitment of funds should be sent to voters in a referendum.

In his budget message to the council, Hall, the town manager, said the goals of the proposed spending package include maintaining essential services, avoiding layoffs and providing for long-term planning.

He said the proposed budget also recognizes “the fiscal constraints the town is under,” including “external budget pressures,” which includes a significant loss in revenue under the governor’s proposed state budget.

Overall, Hall said, the municipal budget, in particular, “focuses solely on preservation of staff and programs” and does not include any new positions despite the “clear and convincing justification” for the nine new positions requested by department heads.

Hall said that with the $1 million loss in state subsidy, more than 86 percent of the school budget now relies on local property taxes.

As for capital spending, Hall said, the town could no longer put aside equipment replacement. He is also recommending that an outside consultant be hired to conduct a town-wide revaluation of real estate and personal property, if the expenditure wins voter approval.

By far, the largest capital cost is for the one-to-one laptop initiative at the high school, but Hall also acknowledged that the program is “clearly (a) priority” for the school department, which has deferred other capital needs “in an effort to focus attention on the importance of this initiative.”