Staff Writer

An error in RSU 21’s consolidation debt-sharing plan means Kennebunk residents will pay $324,000 more in taxes this year than previously proposed. Kennebunkport will see its taxes reduced by the same amount.

The change in the way debt is shared came in 2008 after the Regional Planning Committee recalculated each town’s share of previously approved debt payments. The error was not discovered last year, and school board members hope to fix the underlying issue before they begin the budget process next year.

According to a letter sent out by RSU 21 Superintendent Andrew Dolloff to parents last week, the Department of Education, the Regional Planning Commitee and the district’s attorneys worked together during the final weeks before the district charter’s approval in 2008 to make sure it complied with the law.

The plan called for splitting local and state debt between Kennebunk and Kennebunkport based on a 30-70 split – 30 percent of debt would be apportioned based on pupil count and 70 percent based on each town’s property value.

Kennebunk sends far more students than Kennebunkport to the district’s schools, while property in Kennebunkport is assessed at higher values on average than Kennebunk. The 30-70 split was intended to share costs equitably.

Voters thought they were approving that 30-70 split for both state and local debt, but a last-minute change in charter language adjusted that ratio, Dolloff said.

The charter language was altered to “local only” before the word “debt.” However, state law mandates 100 percent of state-allocated debt be divided based on pupil count, not a combination of property value and pupil count, Dollof said.

Adding “local only” means only local debt will be split 30-70 and state-allocated debt will be divided between the towns based only on pupil count. Kennebunk sends approximately 80 percent of students to the district.

Dolloff explained state-allocated debt is the state’s share of approved building projects and local debt is the money that is raised by local taxes.

The district’s finance committee discovered the charter language change this year.

John Sharood, school board member and finance committee chair, said last year was the first year the debt-sharing plan was in effect. Last year’s finance committee did not look through the charter closely enough to discover the added words, he said.

Even without that discovery last year, both towns followed the state law and allocated debt correctly, according to Sharood.

“It’s annoying for all of us,” Sharood said. “The (Regional Planning Commitee) are disappointed that the error crept through.”

“What’s important to remember is the debt is being allocated the way it always was,” Dolloff said.

Dolloff said both town officials have been notified of the error and “it’s the right thing to do” to notify taxpayers that debt is being handled differently than the 30-70 plan voters thought they had approved. The Regional Planning Committee will reconvene in the next few weeks to decide whether members intended to have a 30-70 split for both state and local debt.

If the committee intended to have state debt split by pupil count and property value, the school may seek a special exception to allow the 30-70 state debt sharing, Dolloff said. If the state agrees to the exception, voters would again need to approve the change.

Approving state debt based only on pupil count to 100 percent means a $324,000 shift in the tax burden to Kennebunk. This means an increase of $18 per $100,000 of property assessment in Kennebunk and an $18 decrease per $100,000 of property assessment in Kennebunkport.

Arundel will not be affected.

Sharood said it will take approximately 12 months for the error to be corrected.

“If this is the worst thing that happened to us forming the RSU, we got off easy,” Sharood said.

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.