Michael Papsadora and Diane Paterson were both elected to the school board.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – Voters overwhelmingly passed the SAD 43 2003-04 budget by a vote of 1,114 to 638. They also elected Michael Papsadora and Diane Paterson to the school board.

On the $13.69 million SAD 43 budget, Rumford residents voted 847-455. In Mexico, the vote was 234-157, and in Byron, it was 12-6. Only Roxbury voted down the budget, 19-20.

Paterson polled the highest number of votes for the two open seats on the board. She received 797; Papsadora received 688. Also running were Richard Gauvin, who received 620 votes, and Michael Matthews, who got 215 votes.

Paterson and Papsadora replace Rosie Bradley and David McKivergan, who chose not to seek a second three-year terms.

Paterson is a medical practice manager. Papsadora works as an electrical and instrumentation technician at MeadWestvaco.

Unlike previous years, the actual SAD 43 proposed budget figure was not printed on the ballot. Instead, it was posted inside the individual polling booths. Town clerks in both Rumford and Mexico were surprised that no one asked for clarification on the amount of the proposed budget.

The budget figure was not on the ballot because it was approved at a districtwide meeting last Thursday. Under a new way of acting on school budgets adopted by SAD 43 residents last year, the figure approved in a districtwide vote must be validated within three business days at a referendum election.

If voters hadn’t approved the budget at Tuesday’s election, the process would have started all over again.

Voters in SAD 43 became the first in the state to adopt a budget using both districtwide and referendum votes.

The adopted budget reflects a slight increase that will be offset by a higher amount of state aid to education for the district.

eadams@sunjournal.com