June 1st—the unofficial start of summer! Beaches are now fully open and staffed and outdoor events are on the horizon. Town Council is actively progressing on initiatives to support the community. With the municipal budget just approved last week, the priority project for the month ahead is adopting the Comprehensive Plan, a document which serves to outline a vision for the future of Scarborough. Read the details of this Council work below, along with other reminders from the Town, School, and Library.

This Memorial Day, the Scarborough Police Explorer Post and Scarborough Fire Honor Guard dedicated time to honoring those who served. They delivered donated carnations to veterans at the Maine Veterans Home and placed flags on graves in Scarborough cemeteries to pay their respects.

Did someone say beach season? That's an easy question, but you may have several more—let us answer those for you. Check out the FAQs on our website, and here are some quick points in the meantime:

Beach season is here and so, too, are endangered piping plovers. We’re excited to share that our first nests on Higgins and Western beaches have hatched! Be on the lookout for fluffy little plover chicks if you visit the beach. 

Piping plover chicks seek food on their own soon after they hatch. They will run from the dune to the water line and everywhere in between. Chicks are very vulnerable for the first 3-4 weeks after they hatch because they can’t fly. If they feel threatened, chicks will often freeze on the spot, and they camouflage so well it’s often difficult to see them. Please walk carefully on our beaches and be on the look out for plovers.

Thank you to our diligent volunteer monitors who visit our beaches to educate residents and visitors about the plovers and our local ordinances. Thanks also to residents and visitors for following the beach rules that are in place to protect these endangered birds.

Tax exemption applications are accepted until June 14, 2021. Here are some tax exemptions you may be eligible for:

Applications for these Exemptions must be submitted to our office by June 14, 2021. There is also a Property Tax Assistance Program for eligible residents 62 and older (October 15, 2021 deadline). Eligibility details & applications available from our Assessing Department.

Due to the uncertainty of what summer will look like restriction-wise, Scarborough Community Services is working through the details for summer specialty camps one by one. As we get more information on upcoming programs, they will show up here in our Digital Brochure, all with complete details, including dates, times, locations, and pricing, as well as a direct link to register online. We will also post add-on programs on our Scarborough Community Services Facebook page as they become available. Please note, some programs have already reached capacity.

Madison is the niece of one of our full-time Firefighter/Paramedics. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia when she was only 10 months old. She just turned 1 on May 6 and unfortunately was in the hospital on her birthday. She is doing very well with her treatments, but she still has another 6-9 months of intense chemo and if that works, she will need another year of maintenance chemo. Please consider donating blood on Wednesday, June 23 in support of Madison.

The Town of Scarborough requires a permit for garage/yard sales. We allow up to six permits for such sale, whether conducted indoors or outdoors, to any person or for a sale on any given residence within a consecutive twelve-month period. The cost for a permit is $5.00 and is valid for up to three days.

All dogs 6 months and older are required by State law to be licensed in the municipality in which they reside. This year the State extended the dog licensing period for 2021 until June 2, before the $25 late penalty will be charged. To receive a license for your dog, please come into the Town Clerk's Office at Town Hall during our business hours. The online dog portal will also be available to register your dog until June 2. If you register your dog online, you will receive your tag in the mail.

What will our town look like in the next 5, 10, 15 years? This was central to discussions as the Town of Scarborough’s Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) worked through revisions to the public review process for developing the 2021 Comprehensive Plan. The Plan aims to be an expression of Scarborough residents’ hopes and thoughts on important issues that impact the day-to-day experience of what it means to live and work in Scarborough.

Revisions, public input, and discussion has been ongoing since 2017. The Plan was most recently brought to public attention again in Fall 2020 with three public forums and a Town Council Workshop. The key takeaways from these meetings were compiled and have since been incorporated into a near-final version of the Plan. Most recent adjustments include:

Click Here to read the latest draft of the 2021 Comprehensive Plan

The Plan is anticipated to be adopted by Council at the end of June, but a final opportunity for public engagement is encouraged. Please review the latest draft (available on the Town’s website and Town Hall) and attend the upcoming meetings to offer comment and learn more:

Wednesday, June 9, 6:00 PM: Workshop/Public Hearing

Wednesday, June 16, 7:00 PM: Town Council, Planning Board, & Long Range Planning Committee Public Hearing

Wednesday, June 30, 6:00 PM: Town Council & Long Range Planning Committee Public Hearing; Potential adoption

The public is welcome to attend the meetings either at Town Hall or virtually. Links to attend online will be made available on our Town Calendar a few days prior to each meeting.

On Wednesday, May 26, Town Council held a special meeting to do a second reading and vote on the proposed Fiscal Year 2022 budget. The budget process began with a presentation on April 7, and at first reading one week later, Council reduced the budget by $3.4 million.

Town Council approved the budget, which in its final state is $3.55 million lower than initially proposed. The budget process was driven by the goals to, 1) be restorative after several cuts were made last year due to the pandemic, and 2) meet the directive set out by Council at the start of the year to have a no more than 3% mil rate increase.

The final budget comes in at a 2.09% mil rate increase. This intentionally does not include any fiscal recovery money from the government (American Rescue Plan Act), as Council plans to take the time to be deliberate and ensure the funds provide the greatest impact to the community. Finance committee Chair John Cloutier reiterated that this budget and the adjustments made are "a nice balance between keeping spending reasonable but also keeping a consistent, predictable tax impact on the taxpayer."

Your voice is relied upon in an upcoming election to vote on the school budget. While the municipal budget will be reviewed and approved by Town Council, the school budget requires a referendum election. Voting will take place on Tuesday, June 15, 2021 at the Scarborough High School or beforehand with absentee voting by mail-in, in-person, or drop-off at the ballot box. If you're voting absentee, request your ballot online.

In-person absentee: Happening now through June 14 at the Public Safety building during business hours.

To learn more about the school budget, watch the May 20 School Board meeting, where it is presented with adjustments and explanation of areas around additional staffing needs, etc. Visit our Budget Portal for additional resources.

Part of the process this year involved assessing the impact of adding back deferred projects and positions eliminated from the FY21 budget, identifying key positions needed to continue operating within DoE guidelines related to COVID, and identifying additional needs in order to return to full time, in person learning. The district leadership team has carefully considered all of these factors and crafted a budget, in conjunction with the school board finance committee, that will allow the schools to safely welcome students back full time in the fall and address both the academic and social emotional needs of students after an incredibly challenging 20-21 school year.

Unique to this year are the varied funding sources available to us and determining the most appropriate application of those funds. The ESSER funds, federal aid, will be applied to any temporary positions necessary for schools to properly staff their buildings to address continuing DoE COVID guidelines and maintain smaller class sizes to address any learning losses. Using the funds in this way keeps the positions separate from our general fund budget and allows us flexibility to respond to any changes that may occur to guidelines over the summer. In addition to these ESSER funds, Governor Mills has proposed an increase to state funding of schools to meet the State’s obligation to pay 55% of the cost of K-12 education. Should LD1114 pass, Scarborough is slated to receive an additional $977,025 in general purpose aid. Our intention with these funds is to apply a portion to this year’s revenues to reduce the tax request and use the remaining funds to create a capital reserve fund to better manage future capital needs and limit our reliance on bonding.  

Overall, we are pleased that the budget positions the schools to prepare for a full return in the fall while continuing to address ongoing needs in the district. The board would like to extend our gratitude to the leadership team for their thoughtful development of the budget and to the town council for their respectful collaboration throughout the process. We hope that the community will join us in support of this budget with a YES vote on June 15th! 

Contact boe@scarboroughschools.org with any questions.

Both the Town and the School honored the guidance the Town Council put forward this year. In January, the Council set a goal to keep the mil rate at or below 3%. Additionally, the finance committee issued guidance to the Town and School to focus on restoration and requested they come in as lean as possible knowing that many people in the community are still dealing with financial challenges due to the pandemic. At first read of the budget, the Council restated our commitment to the goal after the Town Manager and Superintendent submitted their budget requests. While the budget requests initially came in high, it was important that the Town and the Schools were able to appropriately convey to the Council and community what was needed for recovery and restoration.

Throughout the budget process, town staff and the School Department looked for ways to streamline their requests after first read to help the Town reach a 3% mil rate. I’m happy to say, after all their hard work over the past couple of months and due to additional revenues from the state, the projected mil rate for 2022 is at 2.09%! In addition to the Council successfully achieving the goal of a mil rate of 3% or less, due to excess excise taxes in 2021, the Council has set up a new Capital Reserve Fund as directed under our fiscal policy to help pay for capital improvement projects in future years. Projects out of this fund will be reimbursed as projects go to bond in the future, so the Town can continue to leverage this new resource to help with future tax relief rather than requesting the funds from taxpayers.

I recognize even a 2% mil rate increase will be hard for those hurt most during the pandemic. The Town has been allotted approximately $2M from the federal government from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). While ARPA funds cannot be used by municipalities directly to provide tax relief, they can be used to recover lost revenues as a result of COVID, to help small businesses as they recover, and to help those most in need. The Council and the Finance Committee plan to take the time to evaluate all of the opportunities for these funds to provide the greatest impact to the community. I felt it was prudent that we took the time to evaluate our choices, rather than make decisions in haste to reduce the mil rate for 2022 even further. Through smart decisions, these funds could help us balance the tax rate in future years while meeting unmet needs of the community as we continue to recover as a community.

This is a restorative budget, one that will help the Town and Schools recover in the next fiscal year. The road to recovery is a long one and will not be fully addressed in one fiscal year, but with the investments made this year, the Town and Schools are well on their path. Some decisions that were made that I look forward to include:

Scarborough Town Council

Paul Johnson, Chair • Don Hamill, Vice Chair • Jonathan Anderson • Jean-Marie Caterina • John Cloutier • Betsy Gleysteen • Ken Johnson

Town Council meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at 7 PM. Visit our online calendar for links to attend and view agendas.

This is the latest sign posted on the Library front entrance and as you enter the Youth Services area. Our Trustees and management staff have adopted this policy based on feedback from patrons who are parents and medical professionals. While we are not technically a school or childcare, this will align with the intent of the CDC’s current guidelines for facilities that serve large numbers of children under age 12. 

Since Monday, May 24, we have questioned whether our most vulnerable patrons—the large number of unvaccinated children under age 12—are safe enough when others are not masked. We considered how much responsibility we hold for their safety. We chose to follow our 15-month long commitment to adapt our library environment and services to maximize the safety of those who use our collections and services. Our staff will continue to wear masks for many more weeks even though the entire team is now fully vaccinated. We want to send a message that masks are still important. We'll also remind people in our public information why this is the case. We will continue to offer additional safety features. Our children's collection was moved several months ago to spread out the bookcases and create more space between browsers. We have removed seating, tables, and toys to discourage lingering. Our experience is that most families minimize exposure by spending less than fifteen minutes in the Library. Hand sanitizer continues to be available.  

By requiring masks in the Youth Services area and encouraging them throughout the building we are following the US CDC guidance for child safety, complying with the Governor’s Executive Orders, and continuing to navigate as carefully and safely as we have over the course of the last year. 

Monday 10am-5pm • Tuesday 10am-5pm • Wednesday 10am-6pm • Thursday 10am-5pm • Friday 10am-5pm • Saturday 10am-2pm • Sunday Closed

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