Blue Hill Selectmen take aim at town, school budgets

Spurred by projected revenue drop

- ANNE BERLEANT

BLUE HILL—Concerns over balancing town needs with education costs in a time of economic uncertainty dominated a selectmen’s work session Thursday, May 21. Members of the town budget committee logged onto the virtual meeting to discuss the Town Meeting warrant, which asks voters to approve over $8 million property tax funding of a $9.7 million 2020 budget, according to the budget committee’s breakdown.

The proposed school budget comes in at $6.4 million, and just as selectmen are paring down the municipal budget, they are looking to the school board to do the same.

Superintendent Mark Hurvitt and School Board Chairman Jan Snow had met with selectmen three weeks earlier, where Hurvitt outlined savings on the proposed budget of about $120,000, “without too much effort,” in Hurvitt’s words, because of lower than budgeted costs for health insurance costs, heating oil, and secondary students, a higher state subsidy, and a costly private school and ed tech. for a special education student who moved out of the area after the budget was approved.

“There are probably other things we could consider,” Snow said at a May 13 school board meeting.

The selectmen echoed that thought at their May 21 work session, zeroing in on an open staff position set to be filled.