Prior to the 2020 Southport town meeting, selectmen presented voters a unique way of viewing how their tax dollars are spent. A large handwritten sign displayed the cost of each article per $1,000 of tax dollars. Selectman Gerry Gamage quickly recited how tax dollars translated into municipal services. “Paying $1,000 in taxes, $68.82 of that goes to rebates, $276.27 will educate your kids and for $5.76 will take them to school on the bus,” Gamage said in a partial snippet of his recitation.

And when it came time for the voters to speak, they were in a generous mood approving all monetary budget items and only rejecting one article. Fifty Southport voters approved 57 of 58 articles in the 90-minutge  town meeting held March 2 in the municipal building. Gamage urged voters to skip Article 56 “To see if the town will vote to exceed the property tax cap imposed by the State of Maine?” Gamage explained the article was required by state law to appear as a warrant item. “I move we dismiss it (Article 56). We don’t need it.  We don’t exceed it, and don’t like being told by the state we need it,” he said. 

In total, voters approved $3,406,000 in spending for 2020. Southport’s budget is up $91,632, a 2.7% increase. Municipal spending accounts for $2,284,727 and school funding is up 5.4% totaling $1,121,031. Articles 7-19 dealt with the school budget. All but one item passed unanimously. Article 18 asked voters about appropriating  $1,121,031 as Southport’s municipal appropriation. The article is a total of all local educational funding for Southport’s kindergarten through grade 12 spending. The lone dissenting voter didn’t ask a question regarding Article 18 or voice an objection during discussion. 

One resident asked how Southport stacked up on per pupil spending against similar-sized schools. Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 Superintendent Dr. Keith Laser presented examples for the 2019-20 school year from Wiscasset, South Bristol and Georgetown. Last year, Southport Central School’s per pupil spending was $20,805. The per pupil spending rates for other local schools were Wiscasset, $11,330; South Bristol, $15,880; and Georgetown, $20,915, according to information provided to Laser from the Maine Department of Education.

The municipal budget didn’t receive much scrutiny, either. The major expenditures included buying a new $75,000 one-ton truck for the public works department, a $25,000 contribution toward building a fund for connecting the municipal building to year-round water, and nearly tripling funds for the museum trustees fund. In 2019, voters approved $5,000, but the museum received a substantial amount of volunteer work. The additional funding will allow for replacing a volunteer with a paid person. Museum trustees funding rose from $5,000 to $17,660.  Voters also approved increasing the town administration budget from $150,300 to $177,000. 

Voters also approved 19 nonprofit agencies’ requests. The municipal contributions were Boothbay Region Ambulance Service, $58,784; cemetery trustees, $5,000; library trustees, $97,550; Boothbay Region Refuse Disposal District, $225,019; Midcoast Humane Society, $780; district nurse, $1,250; Boothbay Region Health Center, $5,000; Fireworks Fund Committee, $2,000; New Hope for Women, $2,000; Boothbay Region Senior Citizens, $1,000; Spectrum Generations, $1,100; Midcoast Maine Community Action $550; Boothbay Region Television, $5,000; Boothbay Region Community Resources Council, $5,000; Community Center, $4,000; Community Band, $500; Healthy Kids, $1,500; Life Flight, $600;  and The Harbor Theater, $1,050. 

Prior to the meeting, Southport elected its municipal officers for three-year terms. Moderator Fleet Davies announced the winning candidates who all ran unopposed: Gamage, 53 votes, selectman; Gail Sprague, 48, treasurer; Smith Climo, 49; Boothbay Region Water District trustee; Nick Ullo, 50, school committee. Voters elected the following positions from the town meeting floor: Matthew B. Cole, library trustee; Gamage and Sarah Sherman, cemetery trustees; Matthew B. Cole, Steven Gaudette and Oliver Cusano, budget committee. All positions are for three-year terms.