Voters in Hermon on Thursday quickly approved school and municipal budgets that include hefty increases totalling nearly $2.5 million at its annual town meeting.
The school budget, totalling $19 million, increased by $1.5 million and the town budget, totalling $8.8 million, increased by nearly $1 million.
Both budgets were approved by the school committee and the town council without controversy, unlike last year when councilors recommended slashing the school budget by $100,000. Voters agreed and the school budget recommended by the school board lost by two votes.
In the paper ballot vote Thursday required by Maine law, the school budget was approved 71 to 26.
Town Manager Joshua Berry has declined to speculate on how much property taxes might increase. The current rate is $11.99 per $1,000 assessed valuation. Berry has said the tax rate will be set in the fall.
A procedural move that passed Tuesday combined voting on warrant items instead of having them voted on individually. That disappointed some residents who had planned on voting against some items and for others.
Nearly 100 voters came to the meeting, which required that some sit in the fire station bays. Technical problems with the sound system caused the start of the meeting to be delayed and speakers at the podium in the council chambers could not be heard in the fire station.
Two recent controversies — students’ access to books with mature themes and sexual content in school libraries, and the town’s decision to end its contract with Hermon Volunteer Rescue and First Aid Squad after a decades-long agreement — have divided the community.
The book controversy may have been resolved since Hermon High School Principal Brian Walsh earlier this month put in place a protocol that requires
students to have parental permission to read or check out books containing sexual content in the high school beginning this fall. The books will be on reserve shelves behind the circulation desk.
Councilors voted unanimously in March to end its contract with Hermon Volunteer Rescue & First Aid Squad Inc. effective at the end of the month. That decision was made after a wrongful death claim was filed against the ambulance service.
The town will contract with Northern Light Medical Transport for ambulance service. Hermon ambulance will continue to operate without funding from the town, Stephen Watson, 72, head of the ambulance squad’s board and a town councilor, has said. Watson recused himself from voting and discussions in executive session on the matter.
Watson did not seek reelection.
