MEXICO — The Region 9 School of Applied Technology board unanimously approved secondary, adult and community education budgets at a special meeting Wednesday night.

The secondary budget, which provides vocational education for high school students from Mountain Valley in Rumford, Dirigo in Dixfield and Telstar in Bethel, came in at $2,085,827. That’s up about $51,000 from the current year. The Finance Committee applied $65,000 from carryover funds toward the total budget.

The increase is the result of adding a new program in fire science, $500 raises for all staff, and anticipated hikes in health insurance premiums and fuel.

The adult and community education budget went up by just over $9,000, to $288,526. Member districts must pay $158,267 of the total figure because of the use of carryover funds, subsidies and tuition paid for enrichment and adult vocational programs.

If the secondary budget passes as proposed, SAD 44 will see a $100,000 increase in its share, to $566,538, because of a higher enrollment of students attending one of the vocational programs. RSU 10 will see a decrease of about $50,000, to $1,437,919, because of a decline in population. The formula for assessing district shares is based on the number of students who actually attend a vocational program and the total number of students who attend a member high school.

There will be two public hearings on the proposed budget: 6 p.m. April 12 at Telstar High School and 7:30 p.m. April 12 at the River Road vocational school.

A districtwide vote will be held at 6:30 p.m. May 11 at the River Road school.

Donald Hutchins III of Canton and Paul Handlen of Gilead were welcomed to their first board meeting. Hutchins replaces Carl Lueders who chose not to be reappointed. Handlen fills a seat that’s been vacant for about a dozen years.

eadams@sunjournal.com

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