LISBON — Municipal and school leaders unveiled budget plans Tuesday to boost their spending in the coming year by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On the school side, a proposal by Superintendent Rick Green called for a 3.88 percent increase, lifting the total budget to nearly $14.3 million. 

Much of the added expenses would come from special education services and the loss of federal stimulus money, together totaling more than $400,000. The school department is also about to negotiate a new contract with its teachers union. 

“As with the town, our needs are increasing, but our revenues and resources are shrinking,” Town Council Chairman Fern Larochelle Jr. said.

If the school proposal is approved as is, $5.59 million of the total budget would come from local taxpayers. Lisbon residents with a $100,000 home would see a $70 increase in the portion of their property tax bills that fund schools.

However, the proposal will undergo months of scrutiny.

“The numbers are high,” Green said. One moving piece is the state’s subsidy to local schools. Current projections call for $8.2 million from the state, more than $200,000 than last year. That number is expected to change again before the next budget begins on July 1. “Our numbers will be a lot better.”

On the municipal side of the budget, Town Manager Stephen Eldridge detailed a plan that would increase spending by almost $642,000 or 9.3 percent to $7,575,984.

Some of the biggest increases are coming from retirement expenses, wages and benefits and contracted services, which includes an ongoing revaluation of properties.

“As a percentage of the budget, we’re working with less dollars and fewer people,” Eldridge said. “We’re still getting it done.”

Another big expense is paving. Town roads need about $500,000 of work, but it’s more than residents can afford, Eldridge said.

“We can’t bite that all off at once,” he said. So he has recommended spending half of that, $250,000, in the coming year.

Both the town and the school are managing heating costs. The town has increased its fuel budget for the coming year by $20,000. The school budget includes transition costs for changing the high school’s heating system from steam to hot water.

Eldridge also outlined plans that would flat fund the town and cut each department by 10 percent. However, none of the plans saw an overall reduction in spending when compared to the current budget.  The reason is that so many of the costs — about 31.2 percent — are unavoidable, he said. Such pieces include the county tax, insurance and social security.

“You have choices that we all have to make,” Eldridge told the town council. “You wanted options and these are two that we can look at.”

dhartill@sunjournal.com

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