Raymond budget proposal slightly up from current year

By Ed Pierce

In formulating the budget proposal for Raymond’s Select Board to examine for the 2023-2024 fiscal year before putting it before voters, Raymond Town Manager Don Willard had to take several factors into consideration.

Raymond's initial budget proposal for 2023-2024 is
$18,640,359 and after revisions by the Raymond 
Select Board, voters will cast ballots to approve or 
reject the budget at the Annual Town Meeting on
June 13. COURTESY PHOTO   

Raymond has increased staffing levels and public safety employee retirement options have gone up. Along with that, capital expenditures for the town have risen and the library is offering new services and programming. Raymond has expanded recreational programs and inflation has resulted in higher pricing for town purchases.

Willard’s original budget proposal was $18,640,359, up from 2022-2023’s budget of $18,423,349.

“The budget represents a 7.30 percent ($455,932) increase in gross expenditures over last fiscal year,” Willard wrote to the Select Board in introducing the budget proposal. “After municipal revenues were applied to the gross budget, it results in a 9.53 net increase ($358,382) over last fiscal year.”

Willard reported to the Raymond Select Board that the new estimated taxable real estate valuation is $8 million, resulting in an increase of $120,000 in additional tax revenue, if calculated at a $15 per thousand valuation rate.

“This is a conservative estimate from the contractor assessor,” he said.

According to Willard, municipal revenues for the town are projected to increase by 3.91 percent, or about $97,000.

“The budget does not factor in the estimated increase in property tax revenues, any increase in revenue sharing, not does it include any undesignated fund balance or surplus,” he said.

Key items in the new Raymond budget proposal include fire department salaries rising from $902,523 to $999,358; fire department gasoline costs doubling from $15,000 annually to $30,000; Public Works costs increasing from $917.013 to $930,356; Parks and Recreation funding increasing from $156,343 to $164,084; Worker’s Compensation, Public Works gasoline and diesel fuel costs remaining the same as last year at $60,500; liability and unemployment insurance costs rising from $137,325 to $164,200.

Cumberland County’s tax assessment for Raymond jumps from $817,347 to $974,325. Benefit costs for Raymond town employees will increase 15.02 percent from $794,762 to $914,135.

Planned capital improvement funding for town projects such as road paving, a playground and work to municipal facilities are increasing from $890,000 to $965,000.

Willard says the town expects to take in $16,064,050 in real estate and personal property taxes and earn about $14,000 from investments in FY 2023-2024, up from $8,000 this year.

As far as state revenue sharing goes, Raymond is expecting to receive about $505,000 from Maine, about the same as projected in last year’s budget.

The town’s debt service decreases in 2023-2024 down to $353,114 from $357,614 this current year.

Under the budget proposal, funding for utility costs for Raymond town buildings will increase from $13,000 to $22,000.

Throughout March, the town’s Budget Committee worked with town departments in making budget revisions and a final budget was adopted at Tuesday night’s Raymond Select Board meeting.

The budget put forward does not include the RSU 14 budget which is still being calculated and will be separately approved or rejected by voters in June.

Raymond voters will cast ballots during the Annual Town Meeting on June 13 at Jordan-Small Middle School regarding the town budget. <

Raymond banners pay tribute to town’s graduating seniors

Raymond honored 2020 high school
graduates from the town by putting
up 49 banners recognizing their
academic achievements.
WINDHAM EAGLE PHOTO

By Ed Pierce

It was a year like no other in history for high school students this year, but a kind gesture has lifted spirits and inspired some lasting memories for 49 graduating seniors from the Town of Raymond.

Starting on the weekend following graduation, motorists driving through town on Route 302 found individual banners containing the names of all 49 of the town’s graduating seniors affixed to light posts throughout Raymond.

During a recent Raymond Select Board meeting, a proposal was made to do something different this year to recognize graduates from the town after traditional rites of passage for graduating seniors such as the Senior Prom and the annual commencement ceremony were scrapped as a result of COVID-19 restrictions.

“We felt these graduates needed something after everything that’s happened in the past few months because of the coronavirus,” said Teresa Sadak of the Raymond Select Board. “And we wanted it to be for all graduating seniors from our town and not just those who graduated from Windham High School. We first looked at having signs made, but signs seemed rather ordinary. The banners were a better idea and the select board members agreed.”

In all, the town had 51 sturdy vinyl banners produced by Time4Printing in Windham, with the two additional signs saluting the Class of 2020 placed on utility poles on Route 302 near the town lines with Casco and Windham entering Raymond.

Names of the graduates were confirmed by town officials and then double-checked to ensure that they were spelled properly prior to the production process. It only took Time4Printing employees about week to create the banners and then give them to the town to be unfurled on graduation weekend. 

“These young people are indeed our future and they have worked 12 or 13 years to reach this point in school,” Sadak said. “It’s just a shame that they had to go through this and miss so many school activities before their graduation. This small gesture by the town is intended to show them that we have noticed all of their hard work to get to where they are today and we wanted to honor and recognize them with something they would always remember.”

Sadak said that once everyone has had a chance to view the banners, they will be given to each of the 49 graduates in recognition of their academic accomplishments in high school.

“They didn’t have a prom or even got to experience Senior Day,” Sadak said. “This is our way of saying congratulations to them and to show our town’s gratitude and appreciation for their achievement.”

Sadak said feedback she’s received for the effort has been entirely positive.

“The parents have told me how proud they are and have been very grateful to see this recognition,” she said. “One of the 49 graduates attended Oxford High School and she was amazed that she was honored in this way by us.”

According to Sadak, the fiberglass and aluminum mounts for the banners will be stored for use again in Raymond in the future.

“We could use them for holiday banners, for election banners or any variety of purposes,” she said. <