By Ward Peck
Editor
    Whether because of satisfaction or resignation, few Cape Elizabeth residents spoke at this week’s public hearing allowing members of the public to express their views on a combined $31.5 million town and school budget that will go into effect on July 1.
    If passed in the current form on Monday, taxpayers in the town will see their property tax rate increase 30 cents per $1,000 in assessed value, or 1.86 percent.
    The handful of people who did speak focused their attention on the $18.8 million school budget, speaking out against several members of the town council who took a pledge three years ago to tie spending increases to the rate of inflation. That pledge was intended to last three years.
    The current budget deliberations represent the final year of the pledge. All who spoke at the hearing expressed relief that the pledge will expire and urged councilors not to renew it.
    Town Councilors settled on a compromise increase between an inflation rate-based 2.5 percent increase and a school board request for a 3.8 percent increase. The difference between the two figures is $146,000. All but roughly $46,000 of that difference will be financed through a $2.4 million bond. Of that total, $461,200 will be used for school projects and $1.9 million for town projects.
    The $8.5 million municipal portion of the bond escaped the public hearing without comment.