Did the Boothbay Region Get a Bang for Its Buck in the Camoin Report Purchased by the JECD?
A comprehensive look at the public-private spending culture and how it erodes our rule of law
The Community School District’s 2023 first draft budget is $11,226,816, a $328,273 or 3% increase, CSD administrators revealed Feb. 16. The costs to taxpayers will decrease by $34,167 or about 0.4% after factoring in $814,368 in state subsidies, $840,000 in tuition and $825,000 in unassigned funds – previous years’ unspent taxes which are carried forward.Draft budget $11.2M
I wonder why our public school system has tuition income? What are the state subsidies for and isn't that also a taxpayer expense even if it is passed on to the rest of the state? Does the state distribute school subsidies equitably or does it have special favored zones as it does in its economic development policy, which now incorporates our public education for state-favored industrial training purposes? And what does "$825,000 in unassigned funds – previous years’ unspent taxes which are carried forward" mean. What is an "unspent tax"? Does the school charge taxes for its own use? Who pays these taxes? Who pays tuition? Noting that all three categories are equivalent amounts give or take a few, is it a public educational system if a significant portion of its funding is from private tuition? And if our school system is in such poor shape that we need to replace it with a fifty-sixty million-dollar system, how is it that our current system is being funded by “tuition” which I assume to be private tuition?
I posted those questions in the Boothbay Register comments, but I am not anticipating real answers.
I wrote to the Maine FOA contact for education Mark Hurvitt and asked him if he can direct me to where I can find information pertaining to how the Industrial Partnerships Act is being implemented into our public educational system.
I suspect that there is not an official system that implements the repurposing of public education in the interests of State-favored private industry. It is just a general license as we now have a culture of general license that allows anyone to take over our public institutions, especially, and mainly if they have money, meaning our government is for sale.
In an example, the Department of Transportation funds are for sale to the community with the highest bidder.
Project Selection/Eligibility MaineDOT will continuously accept project applications and eligible projects will be selected on a first come first serve basis. Additional project selection/eligibility factors include the following:
Second to last on the list of six requirements:
Percentage of Local Match: The greater the percentage of non-MaineDOT funding, the greater the likelihood the project will be selected.
There is a free-for-all attitude in the culture of the public-private relationship that anybody can step in and use public money to run their own agenda, without an understanding of even the statutory code governing their activities. Thus the JECD spent 79000.00 on an Economic Development Master Plan: Boothbay Region, Maine (Towns of Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor, Southport and Edgecomb) that never mentions the water supplies of Adams Pond and Knickerbocker Lake which were declared by the state to be endangered by further development three years before the report was prepared by the out of state consultants.
For 79000.00 one might at least expect the consultants to be cognizant of state law governing municipal development as stated in great detail in Chapter 30, the requirements of a comprehensive plan.
§4326. Growth management program elements
(CONFLICT) *conflict is unknown to author at this time
A growth management program must include at least a comprehensive plan, as described in subsections 1 to 4-A, and an implementation program as described in subsection 5. [PL 2019, c. 153, §4 (AMD).]
§4326. Growth management program elements 1. Inventory and analysis. A comprehensive plan must include an inventory and analysis section addressing state goals under this subchapter and issues of regional or local significance that the municipality or multimunicipal region considers important. The inventory must be based on information provided by the State, regional councils and other relevant local sources. The analysis must include 10-year projections of local and regional growth in population and residential, commercial and industrial activity; the projected need for public facilities; and the vulnerability of and potential impacts on natural resources. The inventory and analysis section must include, but is not limited to:
……….
B. Significant water resources such as lakes, aquifers, estuaries, rivers and coastal areas and, when applicable, their vulnerability to degradation; [2001, c. 578, §15 (AMD)
Without going into great detail, the requirements are very rigorous but the report by hired New York consultants does not reflect an awareness of the statutory requirements, particularly that it must coordinate with the State and other regional councils. Instead, the report focuses on recommendations to form a regional non-profit economic development corporation with the municipalities paying the non-profit a fee for services. The report adds that the non-profit can also take contributions but this method is unlikely to provide 100% sustainable funding- so it's easier for the non-profit to get the taxpayers to pay, as hired consultants.
The JECD has already demonstrated that it is a special interest group working for the interests of its selected peer group so why should the taxpayers pay? Should another economic development group be formed in the interests of those excluded by the JECD and should that group have equal access to taxpayer funding?
The Camoin consultants hired by the JECD seem unaware of the great advantages of for-profit, non-profit subsidiaries as CEI does so well but CEI is now focused on following the opportunity zones across the nation more than being a local economic development organization.
There is no mention in the Camoin Report of Knickerbocker Lake or Adams Pond, the two endangered water supplies, which is required of a comprehensive plan by Title 30, but is anyone paying attention?
However- Why Not? If the JECD (now technically defunct, to my knowledge) could get all the Towns to pay them for their services, they could still form for-profit subsidiaries and collect non-profit contributions.
But are they worth it to the taxpayers?
The answer is in the pudding.
The 79000.00 Camoin Report perpetuates the popular myth that The Botanical Gardens is a great job growth asset:
The region also has several unique employment assets that offers recent and future potentials for employment growth including Bigelow Labs and the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. Camoin Report pg 5
The above statement is unsupported by the Botanical Garden’s 990 Report.
In accordance with the State, with which a municipal comprehensive plan is supposed to coordinate pursuant to Title 30, it is only “quality jobs” that matter, which are jobs that pay higher than average wages and benefits (and therefore usually subsidized by the rest of the economy)
According to Nonprofit Explorer The Garden has 134 paid employees and 301 volunteer employees. subtracting top executive’s salaries of $161,051.00 and $136,932.00, and executive other compensation of $9708.00 and $10,434.00 ($318125.00) from a total of $3,143,801.00 for salaries, other compensation, employee benefits, and dividing the result by 134 equals $21,087.00 per paid employee and 301 volunteers. I do not have data on how many hours of paid or unpaid labor those figures represent.
Excepting its executives, the Boothbay Botanical Gardens does not provide quality jobs and the overwhelming majority of the jobs it provides are unpaid. It is not an engine for job growth unless calculated as a trickle-down effect of the traffic it generates, for which I cannot speak, except to say as a tax-exempt organization it does not contribute to any maintenance costs that may be incurred from so much traffic. The money it saves on labor costs are used to acquire tax-exempt real estate assets.
The JECD hired remote consultants at an exorbitant cost who do not actually know all that much. Since the JECD is primarily a spending organization, it is not very good at what it does, or did.
Answer: The JECD was Not a good bang for the buck, and neither was the Camoin Report.
We need to expand our community conversation to include the real living actual demographics of our community. What if our community invested in the Ersi data compilation software instead of a 79000.00 remote consultant? Ersi allows the user to input original data compiling a unique community portrait. Would it require a project manager? Would it be viable on a blockchain? I don’t know. It would require proof of residency to participate, with residency qualified as seasonal or year-round. Even though proof of residency would be required, the user should be able to remain anonymous to the public, in fact, it might be better that way. I just think it would be far more viable to work from the grassroots than the top down. Just call it an idea for a creative experiment.
What do you think?
After all, according to Hegel, the highest form of freedom is not to be a slave to your whims, but to be a part of something bigger than you, in which you recognize the ethical substance of your community.The problem with rich people
Maarten Schumacher. Serious idealist.
