BETHEL – Voters in the SAD 44 towns of Andover, Bethel, Greenwood, Newry and Woodstock head to the polls next month to vote on a $9.3 million budget proposal.

The $9,339,839 budget proposed for fiscal year 2005 represents an increase of $432,749 over the 2004 budget of $8,907,090.

District Business Manager Bruce Powell said Tuesday that the increase was driven by negotiated salaries and benefits, property and casualty insurance increases, and rising fuel costs.

“Those are the biggies. Those three represent 74 percent of the increase,” he added.

A new gifted and talented program is also a factor in the increase.

But directors “really, really scrutinized the budgets, trying to be frugal,” Powell said.

Then, after the final budget workshop in early May, district officials learned that the Legislature cut the governor’s proposal for state education funding by $10 million for the coming year.

“For us, this means $26,000 that we hadn’t accounted for. It doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but when you’re down to this point where we are with the budget, it is a lot of money,” he added.

But rather than revise the budget to compensate for that loss in state reimbursement money, district officials say they intend to find the money through regular changes and adjustments in budget estimates.

Question 1 of the referendum asks the district to appropriate $6,214,446 from the foundation allocation for the 2004-05 school year, and to raise $3,943,154 as the minimum local share needed to receive the full amount of state dollars.

Question 2 asks the district to appropriate $375,308 from the debt service allocation for the coming school year, and to raise $246,031 as the local share to repay SAD 44’s long-term debt.

Question 3 asks the district to raise $1,636,880 in additional local funds.

Question 4 authorizes the district to spend the money raised by the first three questions.

Question 5 asks the district to appropriate $222,371 for adult education for the 2004-05 school year, and to raise $102,743 as the local share.

Question 6 authorizes SAD 44 directors to apply for and expend grants, gifts, advances and other funds for educational purposes.

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