FARMINGTON – SAD 9 directors approved a $21.88 million school budget proposal on Tuesday, with only Jo Josephson of Temple opposing it.
The proposal, which goes to voters Tuesday, June 7, reflects an increase of 2.76 percent, or $588,316, over the existing budget. At the same time, it has a reduced local-tax commitment of about $154,000 compared to what was raised for the current budget.
The board unanimously adopted the proposed SAD 9 adult education budget of $324,583, which reflects a $3,558 budget increase. But that is a $225 decrease in the local allocation of $76,375 from the towns.
Directors also scheduled a public hearing on the budget for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, at Mt. Blue High School.
Prior to the budget vote, Superintendent Michael Cormier said the district has been notified it will receive more funds than anticipated from the state for this 2005-2006 budget.
Initially, the district anticipated $12.1 million from the state. But it will receive an additional $118,912 to bring the amount to $12.2 million; of that, $78,000 will be an increase in the district’s transportation allotment. The remainder of the additional funding is an increase of about $40,000 attributed to an increase of about $18 per more per student at the elementary and high school level, Cormier said.
Cormier suggested using $95,752 of the additional state money to help offset under-budgeted items in the proposed budget. The remaining $23,000 was put toward tax relief for taxpayers.
The board voted to accept Cormier’s recommendation to reduce the operation and maintenance budget for Foster Applied Technology Center by $20,000 and agreed to allow supervisor David Gould to adjust his project budgets to accommodate the decrease.
In the proposed SAD 9 budget, the board also approved: adding $40,000 to operation and maintenance for increased fuel costs; adding $20,000 to the transportation budget for increased fuel costs; and allocating an additional $37,894 to cover unbudgeted portion of the health insurance premiums.
The district had budgeted for a 9 percent increase in the health insurance premiums, but the increase came in at 11 percent, Cormier said.
The only town that would see an increase in local assessment in the proposed budget would be Industry. Its assessment would increase by $11,968 to $642,816 because of a higher state valuation, officials said. That assessment would cover both the SAD 9 budget and the adult education budget.
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