New school sticker shock: Bar Harbor's latest headache; 'It's always something ...'

BAR HARBOR - Trouble always seems to find this town.

A member of the Town Council said to me last week, “This council is spent …” in reference to its legal entanglement over cruise ships.

As the philosopher Gilda Radner said, “It’s always something.”

Now comes the news that the low bid for a new school is $11 million more than its construction budget. The entire project of $58 million, including non-construction cost, was approved by voters last June to seek a bond.

Flash back to Jan. 17, 2023 when the project architect told the Town Council the new school would cost $70 million. That brought a strong reaction 1:22:45 into the meeting from vice chair Gary Friedmann who called the price “insanity.”

The council agreed and ordered the architect, Harriman and Associates, to come back with a lower price.

So it did.

$58 million.

(The town already had spent $3 million for preliminary consulting, so we’re up to $61 million plus interest).

That was greeted with happiness by most of the council and parents, a stout lobby for a new school, who were growing impatient.

At the council meeting April 4, 2023, two council members - Joe Minutolo and interim member Clark Stivers - still balked. They favored either repairing the broken boilers, leaky roof and other issues or consolidate with other towns to share cost.

Recorded video is a great thing for democracy. You may watch the entire exchange for yourself on Town Hall Streams starting at Minute 55.

Friedmann first appeared to agree.

He said, “How can an island with 10,000 people have four schools, with four cafeterias, four gymnasiums, four libraries? It's kind of insanity.”

But council chair Val Peacock said.

"There's a reason why we have schools in each community and that's because those are the kids of our town, of our community. Like that's Bar Harbor, those are Bar Harbor kids. And when you consolidate, yes, there's advantages, but there's also a loss of that, and I personally feel like that's a real loss.

“And I think we're already struggling with that loss in this town, right? Like, what does it mean to grow up here? Do our kids even stay here? Do they want to stay here? Can they even stay here? Like that's a question and that's not a question we talk about very much in, in anywhere in this town. That's real and that's a real thing for us to think about and our futures."

It was classic Val Peacock. No facts. No analysis. Just pure emoticon. More cheerleader than leader. Worse, using divisive rhetoric instead of seeking common ground which is urgently needed on the island.

(The regional high school is an example of an institutional MDI jewel. Tremont, after a generation of rejecting consolidation, voted in May to align with neighbor Southwest Harbor’s police. And of course, Bar Harbor and Mount Desert have shared police seamlessly since 2013.)

I asked Peacock to explain by email what she meant by “a loss of that?”

Did she mean to say that Bar Harbor kids were so different from Mount Desert kids, Southwest Harbor kids and Tremont kids that Bar Harbor has to protect its own social milieu for $70 million?

She did not reply.

Friedmann voted to approve the $58 million budget and became the deciding vote in the 4-2 decision because Jill Goldthwait was absent.

But last weekend, after the $11 million cost difference was first reported by Bar Harbor Story, Friedmann stated he wants to hold the line.

“The Superintendent must now negotiate with the contractor and architect to come up with a revised plan that fits the construction budget,” he stated in an email.

Councilor Kyle Shank agreed.

He replied to a question from the QSJ by stating in an email,

“With the difference in the returned bids and bonded amount being so large, I imagine the Building Committee will have to quickly adjust the building plans to stay within budget - a process that I, and many others in the community, would be happy to support in any way that we can. 

“It is still my belief that Bar Harbor needs a new elementary school, fully acknowledging my bias in this regard as the parent of two children currently in attendance. The building is rapidly deteriorating from a state of being simply unsatisfactory to borderline unsafe - a condition that no educator, administrator, staff member, nor child in Bar Harbor should be expected to find acceptable.”

Easily said, but how will the town pare its plan to serve 350 PreK-8 students in a new school for $11 million less than what it has in its current account?

The options are not great.

This week, Harriman will meet with the lower bidder Wright-Ryan of Portland to see how much savings may be squeezed out of the current plan.

Then it’s ether cut the project down to the budget or go back to voters for more money.

(Town Council: You own this one. Can’t blame Charlie Sidman this time.)

Since June 2023, taxpayers have been hit with a 15.5 percent tax bill increase for FY25. Are they in a mood to spend more?

(Last August I reported that many taxpayers over 65 went to the polls thinking they qualified for an abatement of property tax increases which had been repealed only days before.)

Meanwhile the reorganization committee for schools consolidation is moving with great pace, much faster than some thought, and offering the possibility that a proposal could be voted on by member towns in 2025.

Jessica Stewart, chair of the uber AOS 91 school board, did not rule that out.

“I am hopeful that the issue will go to voters in 2025,” she said. “The committee is working hard but there are many moving parts, so it’s too early to say for sure.”

The reorganization planning committee held its first meeting in March which was not open to the public.

The RPC consists one from each town’s AOS 91 School Board membership and one community member or member of the town’s council/select board.

Since then, it has virtually completed rules of governance for a district with 15 board members.

Bar Harbor, the biggest operating unit, would have three votes as would Mount Desert, which in addition to being the second largest, also comes with a huge bank account.

Trenton, Southwest Harbor and Tremont would each have two votes, while the islands - Cranberry, Swans and Frenchboro would have one vote each.

Next comes work on the financing formula.

The current expense sharing at the regional MDI High School is an excellent proxy for such a new district - two thirds of each town’s assessment is based on its valuation and other third on enrollment.

So Mount Desert, with less than half the number of high school students than Bar Harbor, is paying $4 million toward the high school’s $14.5 operating budget, almost as much as the $4.4 million paid by Bar Harbor, which has a valuation of $2.44 billion. (Southwest Harbor’s tax base is $953 million. Its high school assessment is $1.6 million, while Tremont’s are $695 million and $1.28 million.) The high school gets $1.6 million in tuition from Trenton and other towns.

After financing, the committee will decide on which restructuring model to recommend. Model 1 is the favorite: Bar Harbor’s new school would host Pre-K to Grade 5, and the MD elementary school, which was built as a high school, would become a middle school for the two towns.

Tremont, which is expanding its elementary school (another reason for consolidation to pay for the project), would be the elementary school for Southwest Harbor and Trenton as well. Pemetic in SWH, also built as a high school, would be the island’s second middle school.

Such a plan would make work easier for Harriman, as middle school infrastructure is more costly than elementary schools - science labs, for instance, and more robust athletic facilities.

With $58 million approved, could there be a hybrid plan? A portion that’s new and a section with only repairs?

(Northeast Harbor Public Library serves as the library for the school across the street. Why can’t Jesup become the library for Bar Harbor school, after taxpayers just gave it $300,000? The walk is a bit longer than Northeast Harbor, but is that the worst thing for kids?)

Why would Mount Desert voluntarily serve as the piggy bank?

Mount Desert’s school enrollment is declining rapidly. Its grades 1 and 2 have only 12 pupils each.

For generations, Mount Desert’s year-round residents have enjoyed all the benefits of its extraordinary $2.78 billion valuation - moderate taxes, 24/7 police, fire coverage, trash pickup, exceptional schools, winter snow-plowing and road maintenance, water and sewer for most dwellings - while most of its wealthy taxpayers shut their “cottages” and skedaddle after Labor Day.

Mount Desert’s wealthy summer people are the reason why MDI has its own hospital, more than 300 non-profits and charities doing good work and a robust adjunct supporting Acadia National Park, Friends of Acadia.

This town has a higher valuation than the entire county of Pistacaquis, which has a valuation of $2,557,100,000 for 18 towns.

Here are Mount Desert’s 10 top taxpayers:

(They may own more than one property. Rosecliff LLC is the holdings owned by billionaire Mitchell Rales)

DEEP COVE HOLDINGS, LLC Total $21,917,100

SULLIVAN, ELEANOR F. Total    $16,891,300

ROSECLIFF, LLC Total    $15,669,200

PEABODY LAND, LLC Total $15,414,000

DIANA S. WISTER TRUST Total   $14,693,600

STEWART, MARTHA Total   $13,159,900

SQUANTUM POINT, LLC Total     $13,018,300

BUTT, CHARLES C Total   $12,171,100

14 SARGEANT DRIVE, LLC Total  $12,104,200

VERSANT POWER (FKA EMERA MAINE) Total     $11,587,100

Here are the town’s top 10 individual parcel assessments:

DEEP COVE HOLDINGS, LLC $17,898,400

PEABODY LAND, LLC $15,414,000

STEWART, MARTHA   $12,447,100

14 SARGEANT DRIVE, LLC  $12,104,200

NORTHEAST HARBOR HAVEN LLC    $11,585,900

RINGING POINT, LLC      $11,479,900

2008 IRREV. TRUST FAMILY OF MARK KRYDER (1/2 INT.)    $10,790,200

SOUTHERLY, LLC    $10,534,800

REIS, DONNA $10,474,800

DIANA S. WISTER TRUST   $10,333,500

Without consolidation to share cost, Bar Harbor taxpayers will face a $100 million tab for the new school, including interest payment (4 percent) over 25 years.

How did the school consultant miscalculate the construction cost so badly is another matter. Inflation is rampant in large construction projects.

And then there is the island premium.

Last October, the QSJ reported that the price to overhaul the 50-year-old sewer plant in Southwest Harbor almost doubled since 2017. Heavy construction contractors simply are not eager to come to MDI. “They have other projects that were not as constrained with such traffic as you get in the summer getting off the island,” said William Olver, consultant for the $27 million upgrade in SWH.

An inconvenient truth

In Jan. 21, 2023, I wrote the following article which was not picked up by any councilor or school committee member. That was odd as you might have thought that they would be beyond thrilled that the kids performed so well.

Conners-Emerson ranked best school in Maine despite condition of buildings

BAR HARBOR - Apparently the students at Conners-Emerson K-8 school did not get the memo that their education was being undermined by collapsing buildings and lack of support from the town.

During one of the most fraught and challenging times for secondary education - the 2020-21 pandemic year - when many in-person classes were canceled and courses taught remotely, Bar Harbor kids showed their mettle and were ranked the top school in Maine by several national surveys.

In its latest report for 2023, Niche.com, the online aggregator which has 140 million reviews and ratings about secondary schools in America, ranked Bar Harbor as the No. 1 elementary school in Maine among 306, the best teachers among 305 schools and the No. 1 middle school out of 178.

You may read it here: https://www.niche.com/k12/conners-emerson-school-bar-harbor-me/#about

Another service Schooldigger.com, https://www.schooldigger.com/go/ME/districtrank.aspx, ranked Bar Harbor No. 1 in its latest ranking, compared to all Maine schools and not just K-8. In that survey Bar Harbor jumped seven spots to overtake Cape Elizabeth since the last ranking in 2019.

A third ratings service Greatschools.org gave Conners-Emerson a score of 10 out of 10 for its standardized test results:

The rankings are certain to roil the argument that unless a new $68 million school is constructed, the quality of education will decline.

FOOTNOTE:

Mount Desert’s wealth has taken on a mystical quality with a bigger-than-life frame influenced by famous summer residents, Brooke Astor, those with “Rockefeller” as a surname and more contemporary denizens like Martha Stewart.

But some of its is myth.

For years, the chair of the Warrant Committee has justified the high taxes on some of these folks by saying they help pay for private jet landing fees at Bar Harbor Airport.

In March, a county commissioner corrected his long-held view. No, he was told. The federal government actually pays for most of the airport.