MEXICO – The exact formula that will be applied to school districts for General Purpose Aid isn’t written in stone yet, but SAD 43 Superintendent Jim Hodgkin believes his district will do all right.

A special workshop meeting to learn about state budget figures as they apply to education was called Monday night. All three local legislators also attended.

The focus was how the new formula will affect Mexico, a town high in student numbers but relatively low in valuation.

“I wanted to show that there is no chance of Mexico’s taxes doubling,” said Hodgkin.

Hodgkin said that although a new state formula that would assess education costs to towns based on student population could cause an increase for Mexico, the town would likely see a reduction in the percentage of its taxes paid to support education.

That’s because of another part of state law that caps the number of mills SAD 43 towns would pay for essential services at $8.26 per $1,000 valuation, said Hodgkin.

Under the current funding formula, which is based on 75 percent valuation and 25 percent student population, Mexico pays $12.91 per $1,000. It is also responsible for another $3.73 per $1,000 valuation for an additional local share of educational costs.

“Any way you cut it, Mexico will pay about 4 mills less than last year,” said Hodgkin of the assessment for the 2005-2006 SAD 43 operating budget.

For the other three towns in the district, Rumford pays $7.78 per $1,000 valuation for essential services and another $2.60 for its additional local share; Roxbury pays $8.44 and $2.50; and Byron pays $7.70 and $2.25.

The current operating budget is $14.3 million.

He said Monday night, however, that the district won’t know the precise figures until the Legislature completes its work.

In the meantime, the board, which usually begins development of its budget in January or February, probably won’t be able to do so until March.

Hodgkin said he hopes to build a budget that will be less that this year’s.

“We must look at how efficient we are,” he said.