By Emily Patrick
As many in our community now know, the YES Project in Greenville aims to build a new multi-use community building on the grounds of Greenville Consolidated School. The project has raised over $3 million so far, but is now running short on options for funding- and time to complete the project. Members of the YES Project have asked the Town of Greenville to appropriate $1 million to move the project forward, and it will be put to a local referendum vote on November 4.
A public hearing is to be held on Monday October 20 at 6 pm at the Town’s Public Safety Building for Greenville voters to ask questions and get answers about the project. Town Manager Mike Roy recently expressed to me the question he is getting from locals is why their taxpayer dollars should go towards funding this new building, and is it really is a necessity for our Town? I thought it was prudent to provide residents more detailed information about the project ahead of the public hearing and referendum vote, so let’s get down to it!
First, let’s ask the hard question: why should Greenville’s taxpayers fund the construction of this new building? Well, YES is an acronym for Youth, Education, Sports. As many now know, the building is not just a daycare. The Town of Greenville and Greenville Consolidated School will be 1/3 tenants in this new building.
Margarita Contreni, President of the Moosehead Lake Region Economic Development Corporation, captured the trickle-down effect the new space could have for our entire community, saying, “The new childcare center will add space for 30-40 children form 0-5 years of age and expand public pre-school for 3-year and 4-year-old children. This will add childcare service jobs at the childcare center and the pre-school while also creating the opportunity for the parents of these children to enter the workforce. We anticipate this will add 40-75 employees to our community. The new community recreation center will attract new members to the fitness facility, which will increase department revenues and also create additional employment opportunities.”
With school enrollment declining due at least in part to a lack of year-round jobs, childcare and available, affordable housing in our region, a new community building that could help combat at least three of these issues is something to take a good, hard look at. As Selectman Peat pointed out at a recent meeting, if we no longer have a school, we won’t have a community, just a tourist destination.
Though one of the main goals of the YES Project is to expand childcare and public pre-K services in our region, other goals include: creating new jobs, reducing the cost of rent for the childcare and recreation center, lowering utility costs with a more energy efficient space, lowering the Town’s carbon footprint, and “promoting community connectedness by conveniently locating the facility on the school grounds, making [the] school playground, gym, athletic fields, tennis/pickle ball courts, ice skating rink and Red Cross Beach more accessible.”
Though this new building is going to be far from “just” a childcare facility, it is important to address the need for childcare in our area. According to information provided by the project’s Treasurer, Jennifer Clark, “Piscataquis County Economic Development Council’s recent assessment report describes the loss of 75% of childcare service jobs from a peak in 2017 through 2021. This was exemplified in Greenville with the closure of 3 licensed childcare providers since 2021. The only licensed childcare center in the greater Greenville area is Little Schoolhouse Childcare (LSC), a non-profit organization that opened in July 2021. The center is licensed for 20 children at one location caring for children 6 weeks to 4 years and cannot expand beyond that due to the building’s proximity to the well water head and the septic field. There is a waiting list for both infant and toddler care.”
Janet Chasse, who has worked in childcare in our region for over 40 years, says, “The current lack of childcare space is heartbreaking, I personally have had a parent stand in front of me crying, wanting to go back to work because she had no income, but us not being able to find room for her child. There are many children in our region currently in unregulated childcare, out of necessity.
The spaces we are in; at the Scammon Road location and at the Greenville Consolidated School, are difficult. At Scammon, we care for the infants in the back of the room, while working with preschoolers in the front. Local supporters have helped us make the building as conducive to childcare as possible, but we desperately need to move to a more fitting space, not only to serve additional children on our waiting list, but also a more appropriate space.”
Even if you’re now sold on the project, the reality remains: $1 million is a lot of money, especially with sky-high inflation, a recent increase in our mill rate, families already struggling to make ends meet, and a revaluation looming in 2026. To make an informed decision about this vote, I believe taxpayers need to know what this will mean for them if this item passes referendum. Will your tax bill increase by $10 or $1000? I sat down with Town Manager Mike Roy to discuss this very issue.
As one can imagine, this is not a simple answer and we don’t have a crystal ball to see what will happen with property values, the mill rate and other factors. Still, for a simple example: if the Town takes out a $1 million loan at a 4.5% interest rate to be paid over 15 years, the total repayment (interest plus principal) will be $1,396,707.10. If you divide this number by the number of years the bond will be outstanding (15) that comes to an annual cost of $93,113.76 per year for 15 years. The Town sent out just under 2500 tax bills this year, so if we divide that annual cost by 2500 taxpayers, that equals $37.25 per taxpayer per year.
This sounds like a fairly reasonable number to most, especially for the community benefits we will all enjoy as a result of this new multi-use facility. Still, there are plenty of other factors to consider. For example, the cost per taxpayer is not the same for all properties. If you own a more valuable property, you will pay a higher share of taxes than your neighbor with a less valuable property. The mill rate also varies from year-to-year. Another thing to consider is that the Town has other planned future projects that will add to the tax burden, like road repairs and construction. Some properties are also tax-exempt, meaning we cannot just divide the annual amount by the number of tax bills that went out to get an accurate number. There are also additional costs associated with this type of bond, including closing, legal fees and administrative costs.
All of this and more will be explained in detail at the Public Hearing on October 20. Please remember there are no guarantees that, if this referendum passes, you personally will only see a $40 increase on next year’s taxes. This only serves as an example of what it could look like, but there are too many moving parts to this to give an accurate number. Nevertheless, I hope you found this information helpful and I hope to see you at the October 20 meeting!