DIXFIELD – The SAD 21 board approved a $11.5 million operating budget Monday night.

The 2008-2009 spending plan is $900,000 more than this year.

Superintendent Tom Ward said the actual increase to taxpayers is about 2 percent because the total figure includes a first year payment of $678,000 on the new elementary school in Peru that will be paid by the state.

Getting to the final figure for presentation to the residents of the district’s four member towns wasn’t easy.

At a previous board meeting, 11.5 positions were cut from staff, leaving some board members with reservations about the level of education that will be offered to students.

While most of the eliminated positions are currently held by staff who are either retiring or leaving the district for another job, three people will be laid off at the end of the school year.

Dirigo High School sustained the greatest number of cuts, with the elimination of an English teacher, a science teacher, a half-time industrial arts teacher and two educational technicians.

If voters approve the board’s budget of $11.5 million, up from $10.6 million for fiscal year 2007-2008, Canton residents will see an 11 percent hike in school taxes, from $537,000 to $595,000; and Peru residents’ hike will be 4 percent, from $1.24 million to $1.3 million

Dixfield’s share will go down .69 percent, from $1.33 million to $1.32 million; and Carthage’s share will be reduced about 1 percent, from $258,124 to $255,523.

The district’s current enrollment is 973 students, with Dixfield sending 495 pupils, Peru, 259, Canton, 151, and Carthage, 68.

A public information session to explain the new budget, including the reduction in revenues that affect the final assessment and the inclusion of the state’s payment for the new school, takes place at 6:30 p.m. May 29 in the community center at Dirigo High School.

A districtwide budget vote is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. June 5. Then, for the first time, residents must validate that vote at a referendum June 10 in their individual towns. Because of a new state law, all districts must now hold a districtwide vote with a show of hands, then validate the final budget figure adopted at that meeting at a referendum.

Ward said some of the projected revenue figures are still soft, particularly the amount anticipated for Medicaid reimbursement. He said he has not yet learned whether a moratorium at the federal level has been put in place to retain that money. He estimated that SAD 21 would receive about $100,000.