KINGFIELD — With the annual town meeting a month away, selectmen will be able to share some good financial news with taxpayers: the Regional School Unit 58 local assessment will be less than the current fiscal year’s.

RSU 58 Superintendent Susan Pratt presented the five selectmen Monday night with the proposed 2016-17 school budget. She said the state’s original calculations for funding education contained serious errors. The good news, she said, is RSU 58’s subsidy will be $149,000 more than first announced, rather than $8,000 less than last year.

“We happened to be on the lucky side of that,” Pratt said.

She said the district budget is nearly 3 percent lower than last year. Kingfield will pay $33,839 less than last year.

In other matters, resident Betty Ann Listowich presented selectmen with a colorful map of a proposed historic walking trail in town. The map includes drawings of historic buildings created by noted local artist Claudia Diller.

Listowich photographed the town buildings and Diller transformed them into individual landmarks on the walking tour. The reverse side of the map contains information about the history of the buildings and other sites in Kingfield.

Administrative Assistant Leanna Targett said she will convert the paper map to a document that can be uploaded to the town’s website: www.kingfieldme.com.

The maps will be printed in small batches and can be changed as needed. The Original Irregular agreed to cover some of the printing costs, and Listowich will have them ready soon.

“We’d like to print and have them out for the spring fishing season and summer activities,” she said.

Copy the Story Link