CALAIS — A Calais City Council budget workshop Monday sparked discussion about the school district’s growing financial impact on taxpayers.
Superintendent Mary Anne Spearin was absent, but councilors proceeded with the conversation for about 30 minutes without her.
The Calais School Department is requesting $255,000 in additional local appropriations beyond its projected share of state Essential Programs and Services funding for the 2026-27 school year. The request represents a $94,000 year-over-year increase, a price tag one council member called “ridiculous” given Washington County’s rising tax burden.
The appropriation request stirred frustration during an unprecedented budget season, as the city works to trim expenses while covering an accrued $544,000 county tax bill.
Calais Finance Director Crystal Gallina, who also serves as the city’s public access officer, presented the budget to councilors. She said the total includes Calais’ $381,000 share of the 2025 tax anticipation note, or TAN, prepayment, which helped cover $8 million in unexpected county debt after voters rejected a bond referendum in November. The county paid the debt in December.
In March, city officials learned the prepayment figure they had been given was higher than necessary and were told the city would receive a $52,617 credit on its 2026 TAN payment. Last November, residents rejected a bond that would have covered Washington County’s debt with interest.
Eastport City Manager Brian Schuth, who is also chair of the Washington County Budget Advisory Committee, called the vote “extremely disappointing” and said he believes the outcome reflected voters’ frustration with the county’s financial mismanagement.
State Sen. Marianne Moore, R‑Calais, had also proposed legislation that would have allowed municipalities and counties to declare bankruptcy under certain conditions, but that effort failed amid concerns that interest rates would rise among Maine lenders if government entities were allowed to declare bankruptcy.
At the time, the Calais City Council resisted joining discussion on prepayment options, shutting down efforts by Gallina to bring the group into broader talks with other municipal and county officials about how to resolve the issue.
Councilors estimate that most of this year’s proposed budget increase stems from county taxes and school district appropriations, which they say account for more than 80 percent of the overall rise.
Gallina said the largest share of the budget, however, is appropriated to city employees, at 43.9 percent. Other appropriations include a 21.6 percent increase for the school district and a 12.6 percent increase in taxes paid to Washington County, along with other costs.
Councilor Michael Sherrard asked, “When are we going to start talking about the school budget?”
Several of those present, including Mayor Marcia Rogers, who presided over the meeting, supported bringing Spearin into the discussion because she had asked to attend.
Critical of the school district, Sherrard said: “They’ve got the least amount of enrollment, probably in the history of the school department. If all the kids stay in school to graduate next year, it will probably be 40 or fewer kids showing in the senior class.”
He added: “Everyone wants to say, ‘Let’s think of the kids.’ Yeah, well, let’s think of the community.”
In response, Councilor James Macdonald said: “Every single one of our departments went up a percentage. Why should the school be different?”
The council spent about 30 minutes discussing the school district’s financial impact on the city before shifting to final budget considerations.
The meeting ended with a decision to invite Spearin to a future session to discuss the possibility of reducing school appropriations.
Other options for meeting the final budget figure include appropriating funds from the city’s general fund, exploring property tax increases and eliminating nonessential positions, if any exist.
A special City Council meeting directly followed the budget workshop. Rogers called the meeting to reconsider a previously failed motion to support a grant that, if awarded, would help purchase a new ladder truck for the Fire Department to replace one that has been in service for 40 years.
Rogers retracted her vote against the grant earlier this month after receiving new information that changed her position for the first time in 13 years, she said. The deciding factor, according to Rogers, was that the grant “wouldn’t come from the current budget year and may come from the next year, or two or three years down the road.”
After councilors agreed to take a second vote on the grant, it passed. Fire Chief William Lee is expected to submit the application for the ladder truck grant.
Local results of the June 9 primary election were reported at the meeting earlier this month. Voters cast 241 Republican ballots and 218 Democratic ballots, representing 26 percent of Calais’ eligible voters — higher than national averages for primary elections.
In the highly anticipated U.S. Senate race, Calais Democrats overwhelmingly voted for Graham Platner to run against Sen. Susan Collins, the Republican incumbent, with Platner receiving 76 percent of the primary vote.
Votes were tight among Democrats Joseph Baldacci, Matthew Dunlap and Jordan Wood in the race for the nomination in the 2nd Congressional District, which will determine who faces Republican candidate Paul LePage, a former Maine governor. The seat is now held by Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat who announced last year that he would not seek reelection. Ranked‑choice voting will decide the contest among Baldacci, a state senator from Bangor, Dunlap and Wood.
LePage swept the congressional primary in Calais, with 85 percent of Republican voters supporting him.
