Budget passed, middle school question voted on at Trenton Town Meeting
TRENTON The town held its annual meeting last Tuesday night at the Trenton Fire Station and via Zoom, following Monday’s election of selectmen and School Committee members.
During the meeting, which was moderated by Selectman John Bennett, the town voted to approve its fiscal year 2021-22 municipal budget of $915,000. This is in addition to the $4,321,885 school budget that was approved by voters at a special town meeting in October.
The increase in the municipal budget is 2 percent, according to Board of Selectmen Chairman Fred Ehrlenbach. That does not include the county tax assessment, which increased to $153,330, according to Town Clerk Carol Walsh
No positives in staff, teacher virus testing
BAR HARBOR Of the 352 teachers and other staff members in the Mount Desert Island Regional School System who volunteered to be tested for the coronavirus Dec. 8 and 9, none tested positive; four of the test results were inconclusive.
The testing last week was the first round in the school system’s program of testing school personnel who have no symptoms of COVID-19, the disease that is caused by the virus.
Superintendent Marc Gousse said the initial tests were conducted to establish a baseline.
“From there, we will do weekly sentinel testing with a group of about 100 individuals, which will allow us to see if there is any evidence of community spread [of the coronavirus] in our schools,” he said.