GRAY – SAD 15 met with the Gray Town Council and New Gloucester selectmen on Tuesday, preparing to meet the challenges of the coming municipal and school budget season.
All three are separate financial entities, said Superintendent Victoria Burns, addressing 14 leaders.
“No longer is it acceptable for schools to have some kids make it and some kids not,” said Burns.
Municipal budgets are voted upon separately before the school budget vote takes place in June. The school budget, now at $17 million, is 80 percent personnel costs and between 3 and 5 percent discretionary spending, with much of the balance going to debt service.
“We have very excellent accounting practices that account for line-by-line spending. Our finances are an open book,” said Dr. Alan Rich, the SAD 15 board chair.
“There are multiple opportunities for feedback in our budget during the process, the more input we can get from the public, the better,” he said.
The four-month budget process for SAD 15 begins on Feb. 2, when the board receives fiscal year 2005-06 budget manuals to review.
A Budget Advisory Committee of Gray and New Gloucester citizens will review the budget and make a recommendation to the board.
A community forum to get input from citizens on the budget development will take place on Feb. 16.
All-day budget reviews by cost center begin on March 5. Presentations to the Gray Town Council and New Gloucester selectmen take place in early April, followed by a public hearing by the school board in late April.
The board is scheduled to vote on the budget on May 4, and voters will get their say on June 14.
The Gray Town Council has a goal to either maintain or lower the mill rate for fiscal year 2006.
A flat-funded SAD 15 budget, proposed by some Gray council members, means a decreased budget next year, Rich said. Spending will increase roughly 3 percent for the $17 million budget for 2004-05, said Rich.
Fixed annual increases include:
• Contractual salary obligations.
• Inflationary increases for items such as insurance, gasoline and electricity.
• Meeting federal and state mandated services and programs.
“What we are dealing with is hitting a moving target based on variables we have no control of,” said Rich. The district has been notified that it will receive roughly $1.6 million more in funds from the state for Essential Programs and Services that will offset local funds raised.
New Gloucester selectmen Chairman Steve Libby said a reduction in the town’s portion of spending this year is planned.
Leaders say they still worry about the tax-cap measures to decrease property tax effects. “If we don’t slow down spending, voters will have a better aim next year,” said Libby.
Gray Town Council Chairman Pam Wilkinson said citizens look at the bottom line on whether spending goes up or down.
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