DURHAM

Residents heard Monday it could cost a substantial sum to pull out of Regional School Unit 5.

Durham will vote Nov. 6 whether to remain in the school district with Freeport and Pownal. About 75 residents attended a hearing Monday on the options and costs of staying or leaving.

Kevin Nadeau, chairman of the Education Exploration Committee, spent 45 minutes explaining the withdrawal process Monday as the panel’s 83-page report was projected overhead.

If Durham leaves without owing any shared district debt, Nadeau said the town still could face up to $1.5 million a year in new expenses — even in the best-case scenario — because it would have to buy equipment and hire personnel now paid by RSU 5.

It also would have to decide where to send high schoolers. The report says if Durham leaves, it likely would have to spend $900,000 a year sending its kids to local high schools.

Meanwhile, Freeport is contemplating a high school expansion estimated at $10 million to $15 million.

In a $20 million Freeport high school expansion, the report said Durham’s share would be about $297,000, with a property tax effect of $180 a year on a home valued at $200,000. Durham’s withdrawal, with no shared RSU debt, would raise taxes on that home by $547 a year. If the town is forced to share incurred RSU debt, those rise by $693 a year.

Since RSU 5 was formed in 2008, some in Durham have complained the town has little school budget control.

Board representation is population-based, and neither Durham nor Pownal has the numbers to defeat Freeport on a straight up-or-down vote.

After the hearing, some in Durham remained staunch critics of RSU 5.

“To me, they’re just numbers. I can fudge the numbers. I can make them look however I want them to look,” said Chuck Pollock, of Newell Brook Road. “I don’t want the town of Freeport to decide how over half of my taxes are going to be spent.”

jtleonard@timesrecord.com