FARMINGTON – SAD 9 is anticipating an $800,000 loss in state education subsidy, directors were told Tuesday.

“I’m hope I’m wrong on the high side,” Superintendent Michael Cormier said. “It could be as high as $1 million. That is a significant impact on the local property taxes if that were to occur.”

The proposed school budget reflects a 1.78 percent decrease from this year. Directors won’t discuss it until their March 31 budget workshop, but Cormier said the process could be challenging.

In 2008, SAD 9 towns’ valuation increased an average of 10.5 percent compared to the state average of 9.2 percent. That means the district will have to pay more in its local share, Cormier said.

“We still don’t know what we’re getting for money,” he said. “This budget is built around the Essential Services and Programs model.”

The district, Cormier said, gets about 25 percent in resources for what it spends. This year, it will exceed EPS allocations by $1.3 million.

“Unless you do bare minimum, you’re likely to be over the model,” he said.

Federal stimulus money is expected for SAD 9, but an amount isn’t known. Cormier said there will will be restrictions on its use.

Directors discussed having a super majority vote of 10 or more to add or restore budget items, but several directors wondered if that would allow for discussion.

“We will go through the deliberation process slowly,” said Chairman Ray Glass. “We won’t railroad this.”

The budget will be explained at a hearing in May before a district referendum on adoption.