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Severity: elevated · Category: taxes · Last updated: May 3, 2026
Q&A Q55 asked for a 5-to-10 year history comparing projected vs. actual mill rates. The Superintendent's written answer (Feb 27, 2026) referenced 'the chart below' from last year's Town Council budget booklet, but the public Q&A document shows only a removed image placeholder where the chart should be. The data exists; the public Q&A version simply does not display it.
Q&A Q55 (originally Q43) was the only question that explicitly asked for historical projected-vs-actual mill rate accuracy data — the very data needed to evaluate whether FY27 projections (10.87 brochure / 10.34 School Committee-approved) can be trusted.
Heather Perry's written answer (Feb 27, 2026) said: 'Yes. This information is typically something we put in the Town Council budget booklet as we get a little closer to nailing down our actual proposed budget numbers. The chart below is from last year's budget booklet…if you want to fill in the most recent mil from FY 26 it would be the actual mil wound up being 9.54, which was a decrease of .30.'
In the public version of the Q&A document hosted on Google Docs, the chart appears as a removed image placeholder — readers who only have access to the public Q&A see no historical data at all.
Historical projected-vs-actual mill rate data was promised in the Q&A answer but is not visible in the public Q&A document (image removed). Voters cannot evaluate the historical accuracy of mill rate projections before the June 9 referendum.
Document: Budget Workshop Q&A — Q55 written answer (Feb 27, 2026) + April 28, 2026 Joint Workshop Slides
Reference: Q&A Question 55 (Heather Perry written answer references 'chart below' — chart appears as removed image in public Google Doc) · April 28, 2026 Joint Workshop Slides (partial mill rate history table)
Q&A: School Committee Q&A Document (gorhamschools.org) — Q55 (was Q43 in the February Q&A)
Asked: Q55 (originally Q43): Would it be possible to see a 5 (or 10?) year history looking at what we projected the mil rate impact to be during the time of the budget approval process, side by side to the actual mil rate impact for that year? I am generally curious how accurate we have been historically on the prediction since we have to use estimate data for part of that calculation.
District answer: Yes. The Superintendent confirmed the data exists ('typically something we put in the Town Council budget booklet') and referenced 'the chart below' in the written answer — but the public Google Doc version of the Q&A shows the chart as a removed image. The only numerical answer text given was the FY26 actual of 9.54 (which Flag #34 documents as conflicting with the April 28 slides' 9.49).
Analyst note: The district's Q55 answer is technically complete in saying the data exists and providing one numerical update — but for a member of the public reading the publicly-hosted Q&A, the substantive historical chart is invisible. Publishing this chart in a publicly-accessible format (not embedded as a removed image) before June 9 would directly serve voter trust.