Cape voters to decide fees, budget

Residents will vote Tuesday on whether to implement parking fees at Fort Williams and to approve the Cape Elizabeth school budget.

 Exactly four months after the town council voted 5-2 in favor of a pay/display parking fee system for the fort, Cape’s residents will cast their own votes in an advisory referendum.

 In 2006, Cape residents defeated a similar measure by a vote of 3,145 to 1,951 – a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent.

The council in February endorsed a pay/display parking system that would require visitors to pay for parking tickets from an automated kiosk and display tickets on vehicle dashboards.

 If approved, the ordinance would require Cape Elizabeth residents to pay $10 per year for a season pass. Nonresidents would pay $20 per year. Visitors in passenger vehicles would pay a flat rate of $5 per day if they did not want to buy a season pass.

The money would be used to pay for operational expenses and capital improvements at the park.

 The pay/display system would be effective April 1, 2011. Thereafter, parking fees would be charged every year between April 1 and Nov. 1.

 In a school budget validation referendum on June 8, voters will decide the fate of next year’s $20.6 million budget. The new plan represents a 3.4 percent increase over this year’s budget of $20 million.

 When combined with the municipal, county and community services budgets, the school department’s budget would require a 1.8 percent increase in the tax rate, or 32 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. It will be effective July 1.

 On May 25, the town council approved the new school budget 5-2 with Councilors Jessica Sullivan and Anne Swift-Kayatta voting against the motion.

 Cape voters also will decide Tuesday if they want to extend the school budget referendum process for three years.

Where to vote

The referendum in Cape Elizabeth will be held Tuesday at the high school gym. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

South Portland residents voting in the primary election must visit their designated polling location between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. For more information, call 767-7601.

SMCC plans for new campus 

Gov. John Baldacci, Southern Maine Community College President Jim Ortiz, State Chamber President Dana Connors and business, education and political leaders unveiled the plans Tuesday for the new Southern Maine Community College Midcoast Campus, which will be housed at Brunswick Naval Air Station.

The event outlined plans and designs for the new campus. The Midcoast Campus will be among the first new ventures to open there in 2011, following the Navy’s final departure.

“When the announcement came that BNAS was being closed, we saw in this challenge a tremendous opportunity. At the base SMCC will be able to expand capacity and serve more students, without the expense of building new buildings,” Ortiz said in a prepared statement.

Ortiz said Question 4 on the June 8 ballot, the jobs and economic development bond, would fund the redevelopment of the base and dedicate $4.75 million to renovate the new campus buildings to make them ADA compliant. 

The SMCC Midcoast Campus is designed to drive economic development in the clusters of composites, engineering, manufacturing, heavy equipment and health science. The centerpiece of the campus will be the Maine Advanced Technology and Engineering Center, a joint venture between SMCC and the University of Maine, which will offer students seamless associate, bachelor’s and master’s in engineering degrees.