#sad28-schoolfunding

UPDATE: Rockport, Camden and SAD 28 announce consent decree for $1.5 million overpayment of school taxes
Tue, 03/09/2021 - 9:45pm

ROCKPORT — After months of closed door meetings, consultations with attorneys and finally, mediation with Duward Parkinson, the towns of Camden and Rockport, along with School Administrative District 28, have come to an agreement over the $1.5 million district assessment error that over-taxed Rockport and under-taxed Camden for more than a decade of public education costs. In short, and with details still pending, the agreement as outlined Tuesday night, March 9, arranges for $750,000 to be...
Rockport, Camden, SAD 28 slip into mediation over overpayment of school taxes
Thu, 03/04/2021 - 12:30pm

ROCKPORT — Keeping mum, but confirming that they did meet March 1 as scheduled, the municipal and school attorneys, as well as school superintendent and town managers, convened with a mediator to attempt a settlement concerning a $1.5 million district assessment error that over-taxed Rockport and under-taxed Camden for more than a decade of public education costs. SAD 28 Superintendent Maria Libby said March 3 that the mediation was successful, “pending various board approvals.” “I am hopeful...
Fifteen years ago, the tables were switched with Camden paying more than its share; never compensated
UPDATE: Camden, Rockport meet quietly without SAD 28 to talk about Rockport’s education over-payments
Mon, 11/16/2020 - 7:30pm

CAMDEN — Any problem-solving initiatives concerning Rockport’s overpayments to the Camden-Rockport K-8 public school system over the past decade have yet to be publicly discussed. Most recently, Camden and Rockport town managers and Select Board chairs met, but there was no word of what was discussed, other than a statement that they talked about the issue. “Representatives from Rockport and Camden did meet to discuss the MSAD 28 assessment error,” said Town Manager William Post on Nov. 13, in...
Call from town attorney ends Rockport Select Board workshop with SAD 28 school board members
Tue, 10/27/2020 - 8:30pm

ROCKPORT — An intervention from the town of Rockport’s legal counsel, Monday night, Oct. 26, put an abrupt end to an impromptu workshop between members of the Rockport Select Board and representatives of School Administrative District 28 at the Rockport Opera House. The group had started the workshop with members of the SAD 28 School Board Oct. 26, following technical difficulties which prevented their regularly scheduled meeting from being broadcast publicly. The two groups convened to discuss...
Meeting this evening: Bonuses, setting goals, Next year’s budget
Rockport Select Board has list of questions to ask Camden-Rockport school board members about money spent
Mon, 10/26/2020 - 11:30am

ROCKPORT — The Select Board in Rockport has a fairly short agenda this evening, Oct. 26, but a long list of targeted questions for the Rockport representatives to the three School Administrative District 28 board members, including their decision to grant their superintendent a cash bonus. The conversation follows a lengthy and litigious resolution process to the problem revealed last summer, when administrators revealed that Rockport had been inadvertently overcharged, and Camden undercharged...
‘I want it to come to the table’
Insurance company denies $1.5 million school district claim to help with Rockport overcharge; Superintendent disputes town’s allegations
Wed, 09/30/2020 - 2:00pm

CAMDEN — Maria Libby, Superintendent of School Administrative District (Camden-Rockport K-8), hopes to sit with Camden and Rockport town managers and talk about resolving the fiscal mistakes that resulted in over-charging Rockport taxpayers by approximately $1.5 million and under-charging Camden. The town of Camden is also, “ready to meet whenever the District and Rockport are,” said Camden Town Manager Audra Caler. At this point, any hopes that Liberty Mutual, the insurance company for SAD 28...
‘It was a failure to carry out the school district’s most basic operational functions....’
Rockport Select Board disputes school district claims regarding over-billing investigation
Thu, 09/24/2020 - 2:45pm

ROCKPORT — The Rockport Select Board convenes Sept. 28 for a regularly scheduled meeting. In the board packet, which consists of back-up material to be discussed at the meeting, is a statement dated Sept. 22 and issued by the Rockport Select Board concerning the lawsuit it filed against Camden and School Administration District 28, of which Rockport is a member. See attached PDF for full packet. The statement, which follows below, lays out the Rockport Select Board’s arguments...
Letter to the editor: Maria Libby
Dismayed by Rockport Select Board Chair’s comments about school cost-sharing issue
Fri, 09/18/2020 - 2:00pm
I was dismayed to read the comments of Rockport Select Board Chair Debra Hall on Monday regarding the cost sharing issue that has recently been brought to light where she suggested that the District had been aware of the issue and disregarded it. That is simply not true. It is true that the correct funding formula should have been instituted back in 2009 when the District got its new Certificate of Organization from the State after the Reconsolidation Law. The error was made many years ago and...
Forensics begin on annual budgets going back 11 years
Next steps for Camden-Rockport school payment investigation
Mon, 09/07/2020 - 9:30pm

ROCKPORT — With a lawsuit filed in Knox County Superior Court by one town against its own school district, as well as a neighboring town, open discussions about what happens next are being muted and conversations ensue behind closed doors with municipal attorneys. It is a convoluted situation, as Rockport assumes a legal stance against Camden and School Administrative District 28, of which Rockport taxpayers are also a part of, as are Camden taxpayers. Those close to the details say they hope...
requests court to order reimbursement or credit for all Rockport school overpayments, with interest
Rockport files suit against Camden-Rockport school district and Town of Camden; cites ‘unjust enrichment’
Mon, 08/31/2020 - 3:30pm

ROCKPORT — Following up on a unanimous Aug. 19 Select Board vote, the Town of Rockport has filed a suit in Knox County Superior Court against the school district that educates its students, and the neighboring town of Camden. The goal is financial relief. Both Camden Town Manager Audra Caler and Camden Select Board Chairman Bob Falciani declined to comment on the case. School Administrative District 28 Superintendent Maria Libby said later Aug. 31: “I saw their complaint in the paper, but I...
Rockport’s mill rate decreases, tax bills to circulate next week
Mon, 08/31/2020 - 4:15am

ROCKPORT — Property owners in Rockport are due to see their 2020-2021 tax bills next week, and the mil rate, after several years of increases, has dropped. According to Rockport Assessor Kerry Leichtman, the mill rate is $16.81 per $1,000 of valuation. This is down 24 cents from 2019-2020, he said. A mill rate is the unit used to calculate how much to tax a piece of property to fund the municipal, public school and county budgets, all approved by voters at town meeting. Last year, the mill rate...
Camden, Rockport tax bills to reflect this year’s equalization of payments
Rockport initiates litigation involving Camden and SAD 28 over educational costs
Tue, 08/25/2020 - 12:45pm

CAMDEN/ROCKPORT — Property tax bills are being sent out this week in Camden, reflecting a mil rate of $15.03 per $1,000 of valuation. Included in the tax bills is the recalculated Camden-Rockport K-8 school charges, which shifts more of the education costs to Camden, and less to Rockport than formerly anticipated. This follows the early August acknowledgement by School Administration District 28 that Rockport has been over-billed for its portion of the Camden-Rockport school district this year...
Complicated cost sharing formulas to get scrutinized by third party
SAD 28 tax levy miscalculation reverberates through Camden, Rockport; consultant hired
Thu, 08/06/2020 - 3:30pm

CAMDEN/ROCKPORT — When School Administrative District 28 Superintendent Maria Libby informed the town managers of Camden and Rockport about the overpayment of Rockport’s school funding share, the select boards in both towns went into respective closed-door meetings to talk the implications, legal and financial. The mistake was discovered this summer, to the effect that this year alone, “A shift of $422,784.40 will increase Camden’s share and lower Rockport’s share,” said Libby, in an Aug. 3...
District determined that Rockport has paid more than its share
Rockport over-billed by Camden-Rockport school district for at least nine years, Superintendent says
Mon, 08/03/2020 - 5:30pm

CAMDEN/ROCKPORT – Today, Aug. 3, School Administrative District 28 Superintendent Maria Libby said the cost-sharing formula used for levying taxes on Camden and Rockport property owners to keep the K-8 schools running has been incorrectly calculated over the past nine years, perhaps longer. As such, Rockport was to pay $422,784 more than its share for this year alone. An investigation continues to determine the full extent of the error, said Superintendent Maria Libby, in an Aug. 3 news release...