Mar 26, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Restaurant Barn.
BAR HARBOR—A proposal to tap school reserve funds to lower Bar Harbor property taxes is facing pushback after the town’s Warrant Committee voted against recommending the move Monday night.
At its meeting, Monday, the Bar Harbor Warrant Committee disagreed with several aspects of the Town Council’s proposed budget. However, it spent much of its time discussing and then voting against the Council-supported plan to take money out of some of the Conners Emerson School’s capital improvement plan (CIP) budget and use it instead for the general fund, which means that this amount of money in the total $30,568,005 budget would not have to be generated this year.
Town Councilor Joe Minutolo had suggested the move during the quick March 12 meeting where Vice Chair Maya Caines and Councilor Randell Sprague had excused absences.
However, a majority of the Warrant Committee did not support that decision.
Instead, it rejected recommending that the town use $250,000 from School CIP fund balance to reduce property taxes.
“We felt strongly that the school is faced with daily decisions with the new building construction that are almost unfathomable,” Warrant Committee Secretary Louise Lopez said.
The Warrant Committee itself can’t make changes to the budget that will eventually go before voters at town meeting. That’s the Town Council’s responsibility, but it does make recommendations prior to the Town Council moving that budget forward. It also votes to recommend or not recommending multiple pieces of the budget. Voters hear those recommendations during the June Town Meeting and can change the budget on the floor.
At Monday’s Warrant Committee meeting, Conners Emerson Principal Dr. Heather Weir Webster said, “We put a great deal of thought into planning for both current and future needs, and we approach this work with a long-term view. This line has been built up over many years, and reducing it leaves us with very limited capacity to respond to unexpected operational issues or building repairs. When funds are not available, maintenance is often delayed, which can lead to larger and more expensive problems over time.”
That delayed maintenance concerned several Warrant Committee members who spoke.
“Whenever there’s a desire to shave from the budget, it comes at the expense of the school building,” Superintendent of Schools Michael Zboray told Warrant Committee members. “And when you look at the CIP year in and year out, those numbers should be increasing.”
That happens year after year, he said.
“Hence the new school building,” Zboray said of the school’s new building being constructed currently after roof and multiple structural issues in the current buildings.
Warrant Committee member Carol Chappell did not agree that the town should continue to carry a heavy capital improvement line for the building. There is a brand new school and significant tax burden, she said.
There would still be $172k in the account and it could be built up again in the future, she reasoned.
However, the CIP plans are usually shown five years out in the budget, Warrant Committee member Shaun Farrar said, and there was no funding currently scheduled in those lines for the next five years.
“They aren’t going to regrow like a lizard’s tail,” Farrar said.
Lopez compared the school build and variables to the construction and CIP needs to the constant changes and fluctuating costs of to things like gas at a gas station, which are controlled by forces outside of the school’s control.
“This is what I feel is happening with the construction of the new school building,” Lopez said.
Though they have been thoughtful about the expenses, she said, “everything is changing every day.”
There are no school emergency repair reserves in the town, but there is an unassigned fund balance for the whole town that can sometimes be used with Town Council approval.
Though it is a new school, some Warrant Committee members worried that there will be unforeseen costs and needs that would normally be paid for via those CIP reserves.
Member Kevin DesVeaux said that his experiences with a major project on West Street is that unexpected needs are likely.
The new multi-million dollar school construction project, supported overwhelmingly by voters, has already had escalating costs.
Member Brooke Blomquist stressed that the new building isn’t going to be ready until late 2026. The current roof on the active school is in need of repair with the school making due now, putting out buckets to catch leaks and drips.
Some funds, she said, might need to be applied to the current schools before the new school is finished.
The Education Subcommittee members had felt like the budget had some fungibility to it. Lopez personally didn’t think it was fair for the Town Council to not look at its own municipal budget or capital reserves, but took it directly from the school reserves.
Warrant Committee member Tammy Bloom, however, said it was a fair place for some cost savings.
“We have a new school and the last thing we want to do is let the investment in that new school be unaddressed,” Warrant Committee member John Kelly said.
He suggested that it was important to invest in the infrastructure that the town has.
That way, some mentioned, the town doesn’t get into a situation like it did with the Conners Emerson School’s need for a total rebuild again.
Money in the CIP can be invested and receive interest, Chair Christine Smith said.
“I understand the Council’s perspective that additional funds could be requested if needed. However, relying on that process as a regular approach is not sustainable. Requests for additional funding should be reserved for true emergencies, not as a replacement for careful planning. Even with a new school building, maintenance and repair needs will continue. While those costs may be lower at first, they will grow in the years ahead,” Dr. Weir Webster said. “The CIP is intended to help us plan for these needs over time. We have used this process to map out purchases such as our truck replacement and to build a technology replacement cycle based on the lifespan of devices and projected enrollment. These plans are deliberate and designed to avoid sudden or unexpected costs.”
She continued, “We have consistently worked to be responsible and thoughtful with the budget we present to the town. Reducing funds set aside for future maintenance and repairs undermines that effort and, in my view, creates a short-term solution that could lead to higher costs later.”
“I’ve never seen a budget punished because people did what they were supposed to do,” Lopez said, “which is look ahead and make sure that there was money where there is supposed to be money.”
The Warrant Committee agreed with its Education Subcommittee’s recommendation, 9-4.
Voting for rejecting the use of the CIP funds were Blomquist, Elissa Chesler, DesVeaux, Farrar, John Kelly, Meg Kelly, Lopez, Chair Christine Smith and Bailey Stillman.
Bloom, Bob Chaplin, Chappell and Vicky Smith voted against. Kevin Knopp was absent.
At the March 12 Council meeting, the idea to use that capital improvement project money had passed 3-2 with Minutolo, Earl Brechlin, and David Kief voting in favor. Chair Valerie Peacock and Steven Boucher voted against.
The Education Subcommittee unanimously recommended that the Warrant Committee recommend the Town Council recommendations for the proposed education budget.
The full Warrant Committee agreed, which means that it recommends voters approve:
- Articles A-L for cost center expenses.
- Article M for essential programs and services (appropriate $5,392,997 and raise $4,492,288).
- Article N for additional local funds ($4,343,602).
- Article O for total expenditures ($10,032,107).
- Article P for state, federal, and other funds.
THINGS THAT PASSED
Flipping a previous vote, the split Warrant Committee agreed on funding the community events line of the budget.
The Warrant Committee members originally did not recommend funding the community events line of $24,000. That line has typically supported community celebrations and events such as the fireworks on July 4, the free Seaside Cinema events, and the Village Holidays. And a split (9-3) Warrant Committee chose in February not to support it.
At that previous meeting, Kevin Knopp, who was recently appointed to the committee to replace Barbara Dunphey, had argued that since those are Chamber events, the town is already supporting them via police and public works presence as well as that the Chamber is a member of APPLL, which has sued the town over cruise ship disembarkations.
Town Manager James Smith had explained during the February 24 meeting, “The Chamber has to invoice the town for direct cost. We would reimburse direct cost. We’re not writing a blank check.”
The total cost of the Fourth of July events are estimated to be just under $49,000. The Chamber has asked Bar Harbor for a $16,300 contribution. Expenses include advertising, dumpsters, entertainment, Wallace Tent fees, fireworks, lobster scavenger hunt, and parade expenses. There is a fee for Anah Shriners’ participation. The Chamber already splits the port-a-potty costs with the town.
Seaside Cinemas has also historically had town support. The Chamber has two staff members set up the screen, start and serve popcorn, and clean up. This tends to be a time commitment of 3.5 nighttime hours six times a season.
The cost to the Chamber is just under $3,000. The town has been asked for $1,550 in support. Costs include the town’s parks and recreation permit fee, licensing (approximately $415 per movie), popcorn, and supplies. Those invoices are provided to the town.
“All of us have a right to sue the town and the town doesn’t have to pay me to do it, but we all have the right to do it,” Chesler said at the March 23 meeting. “I think we’re on a strange path for people to feel that we can’t sue the town.”
“No. No. Nobody said you can’t sue the town. Not once.” Lopez said, and what was being asked was whether the town should fund an organization that pays dues to an organization that is suing the town.
John Kelly said that invoices in the community service line were to pay the vendors, not actually to support the Chamber, but that the Chamber facilitates and coordinates the payment of those invoices and vendors.
Vicky Smith asked whose responsibility it would be if the town didn’t use the Chamber to organize the events.
John Kelly said that no one is making money in doing the fireworks, decorating the town for the holidays or running the Seaside Cinemas. There aren’t contractors waiting to do that work, he said.
“These funds are not going into the pocket of the Chamber,” Blomquist said. There’s no plan in place to work with another organizer if they pulled the money now. Another organizer could be hard to find at this late date, she reasoned.
Another organizer, Chair Smith said, could be more expensive.
“We’re still supporting an entity that is suing the town,” Chappell said.
“No, we’re supporting these community events; we’re not supporting the Chamber. They’re just the ones who are organizing it.” Blomquist said.
“We’re filtering money through an entity that is suing the town,” Chappell said.
The Council kept the money in its budget. The Warrant Committee ended up agreeing 9-3.
Blomquist, Chaplin, Chesler, DesVeaux, John Kelly, Meg Kelly, Lopez, Christine Smith, and Stillman voted in favor. Bloom, Chappell, and Smith voted against. Farrar had recused himself previously because the Chamber had a one-month banner ad in the Bar Harbor Story in the past. He did not vote.
Articles about grants and donations, prepayment of taxes at 0% interest, tax due dates and interest rates (Sept. 30, March 30, and 7.0%), and about the overpayment of taxes (3.0%) all passed.
A part-time parks position passed, 8-5.
OTHER DIFFERENCES
The Warrant Committee also broke with the Town Council, choosing not to support a purchasing agent position (10-3 vote), and an environmental services foreman position (12-1).
DISCLOSURE: Shaun Farrar is on his last year of a three-year term on the Warrant Committee. He is my husband and part of the Bar Harbor Story.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
To watch the council meeting.
To watch the warrant committee meeting.
FY27 Budget
Presented by the Town Manager and Finance Director January 22, 2026
Budget Review Process
Council/Warrant Committee Budget Workshops:
January 22 – Introduction of the municipal budget by Manager and Finance Director
January 27 – School Budget
January 29 – Discussion of outside agency requests
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