Process draws more questions from crowd than past years
Apr 06, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.
MOUNT DESERT ISLAND—The MDI High School budget passed largely without drama April 1, but the audience signaled a shift. More residents unaffiliated with the school system showed up, some warning that rising town and school costs are outpacing what people on fixed incomes can afford.
There were questions regarding warrant articles; there were “no” votes on a few of the articles; there were participants who were far removed from any school board or school related employment, and according to one Bar Harbor couple who was attending and participating, a concern that town and school budgets are rapidly outpacing cost of living increases for people dependent on social security or fixed incomes to survive.
Prior to the official meeting getting underway, High School Principal Matt Haney gave an overview of the high school’s proposed budget. The budget equates to a total assessment of $12,912,875, which is a 4.29% increase over last year’s $12,380,774, for the four island towns. This amount is not evenly distributed because of the sharing calculations used by the AOS. The assessment increases or decreases by town are below.
- Bar Harbor – 6.86%
- Mount Desert – 3.37%
- Southwest Harbor – (-.96%)
- Tremont – 5.80%
The total high school budget is $19,593,247 which is a 21.15% increase over the current year’s budget of $16,172,865.
THE ARTICLES:
Article I was the election of a moderator for the meeting and once again, Jerry Miller was elected moderator and went through the warrant by article while Bar Harbor Town Clerk Liz Graves recorded the results.
Article II, “regular instruction” with a request of $5,913,964 passed with three votes opposed.
Article III, “special education” with a request of $3,081,463 passed with one vote opposed.
Article IV, “career and technical education” with a request of $30,000 passed without opposition.
Article V, “other instruction” with a request of $1,125,752 passed without opposition.
Article VI, “student and staff support” with a request of $2,078,233 passed without opposition.
Article VII, “system administration” with a request of $354,689 passed with two votes opposed.
One audience member asked what this line item is for and School Superintendent Mike Zboray said that it is for the AOS office and the school committee.
The same audience member then asked why there was a 7.1% increase and Zboray answered that most of that was for new software for the business office because the current software is no longer being supported.
Article VIII, “school administration” with a request of $908,681 passed without opposition.
Article IX, “transportation and buses” with a request of $535,534 passed without opposition.
Article X, “facilities maintenance” with a request of $5,264,931 passed without opposition.
This article is the single largest increase, an increase of $2,757,371, in the high school’s budget. Approximately $2,500,000 of that increase is money that is already being held in a reserve account of the high school trustees and will be used for a pre-planned refurbishment of the athletic track. The use of the reserve account money was later approved, with some discussion, in Article XX.
Article XI, “debt service and other commitments” with a request of zero dollars passed without opposition.
Article XII, “all other expenditures” with a request of $150,000 passed without opposition.
Article XIII was a hand count vote and passed with 31 “yes” votes and no “no” votes.
An audience member asked for an explanation of the difference between the two different categories.
AOS Business Manager Nancy Thurlow explained that the first column is what the state says that the school needs to appropriate and includes state subsidies by town. The other column is what needs to be raised and does not include state subsidies.
Thurlow went on to explain that Articles XIII, XIV, XV, and XVII added together make up the total of the assessment to the four island towns.
Article XIV was a hand count vote and passed with 31 “yes” votes, no “no”votes, and two abstentions.
Article XV was a written ballot vote and passed with 31 “yes” votes and five “no” votes.
Article XVI was a hand count vote and passed with 30 “yes” votes and five “no” votes.
This article is the total amount of the high school budget with the exception of Article XVII, “adult education” below, in the amount of $150,000 which brings the total to the full amount of $19,593,247.
Article XVII was a hand count vote and passed with 34 “yes” votes, no “no” votes, and one abstention.
An audience member said that she was confused between the two different amounts in the article of $287,536 and $150,000. Thurlow responded that the $287,536 is what is the school is authorized to spend on adult education but only $150,000 of that needs to be raised.
Article XVIII passed without opposition.
Article XIX passed without opposition.
Article XX passed without opposition.
Audience member Noreen Hogan said, “I am curious what is wrong with the track?”
Haney responded that the track is 26 years old and had an expected life of about 20 years and because of the extended life of the track there is degradation of the under surface and there are major drainage issues. Some of the accompanying track areas, such as the high jump area, are not sufficient for today’s more skilled athletes, Haney added.
Another audience member asked if there was going to be any work on the interior field portion of the track area and Haney said that most of that will be related to drainage issues but a few things will be moved around to better accommodate athletes and coaches.
The high school also has a solid bid for the work on the track of around $2,450,000 and if any of the additional $50,000 is not spent on the project it will be returned to the trustee’s funds.
Hogan then stated that she had noticed funding for a clerk of the works for this project and was wondering if that cost was included in this money. Haney responded that it was.
The full warrant is below.
Mdi High School Warrant For Budget Meeting 2026
224KB ∙ PDF file
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