BETHEL — SAD 44 Superintendent David Murphy said that as the Finance Committee begins work on the operating budget for 2013-14 in a couple of weeks, many financial challenges face the 800-pupil district.
According to the preliminary General Purpose Aid to Education report issued this week, he said this rural district stands to drop to just over $710,000, which is about $170,000 less than the current year’s state aid amount.
And on top of that, SAD 44’s curtailment for the current budget year came in at $76,000.
“This will have an impact,” he said, although he declined to say specifically what that impact would be.
If the state Legislature approves Gov. Paul LePage’s recommendation to charge the local districts for the state’s share of teacher retirements, then SAD 44 will also be responsible for another $125,000.
He said with the reduced state aid funding and the switch to the district paying for teacher retirements, that adds up to a loss to the district of between $200,000 and $300,000. The current 2012-13 approved budget came in at $9.9 million, less than it was several years ago.
State aid has also declined drastically in recent years. During school year 2006-07, the state gave SAD 44 $2.7 million in aid, compared to this year’s projected $710,000.
“Taxpayers have had to absorb almost $2 million,” he said. “The whole process is challenging.”
He said a spending freeze was placed on supply and equipment purchases last fall in the hopes of having a little carryover money to go toward school taxes. And he said the district must address some of the school building issues.
The district is tentatively planning to look into ways to decrease fuel costs by installing a pellet boiler at the Telstar Middle-High School complex. The Facilities Committee is expected to meet sometime in the next few weeks to begin discussions.
Plans are to begin work on the development of a 2013-14 budget in early March, then hold a districtwide vote in May. The figure arrived at during the May budget vote will then be acted on at referendum in each of the district’s five towns on June 11.
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