04/29/2013

Absentee ballots for May 14 school-budget validation now available

Absentee ballots are now available for the 2013-14 school-budget validation, which is scheduled for 7 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, May 14 at Cape Elizabeth High School. [download request form].

Absentee voting will be held at Town Hall during business hours until Thursday, May 9, 2013.

On April 29, 2013, the Town Council adopted a $22.5 million school budget for fiscal 2014, subject to a townwide validation.

As in previous years, the school budget validation includes an optional, advisory question on whether the budget is too high, too low, or acceptable.

This year's validation will also ask whether voters wish to continue the validation process for three more years. In 2010, an overwhelming majority of Cape voters said they wished to continue the validation process that began in Maine in 2008 as part of school consolidation legislation.

The 2014 adopted school budget, $22,528,078 compared to $21,765,817 for this year, is up 3.5 percent and accounts for 46 cents of the proposed 56-cent increase in the tax rate. More information on the school budget is available on the School Department's budget web page.

For more information about voting absentee, please see our Elections & Voting services section, or contact Debra Lane, Town Clerk, 207-799-7665.

---

Here is the text of the validation ballot:

School Budget Validation Referendum

Do you favor approving the Town of Cape Elizabeth school budget for the upcoming school year that was adopted at the latest school budget meeting of the Town Council?

YES
NO

The following is a non-binding expression of opinion for the consideration of the School Board and Town Council. I find the school budget adopted at the April 29, 2013 Town Council’s school budget meeting to be:

TOO HIGH
ACCEPTABLE
TOO LOW

School Budget Validation Referendum Process

Do you wish to continue the budget valid ation referendum process in Cape Elizabeth for an additional three years?

YES
NO