LEEDS — Directors of SAD 52 presented a $26.66 million budget for 2017-18 Thursday night — a 4.26 percent increase over the current $25.57 million budget.

“Between the contractual obligations and the mandate from the state for the pre-K ed techs, that brings us to just about 3 percent of the 4.26 percent,” Superintendent Kimberly Brandt said.

The mandate is that pre-kindergarten classrooms with more than eight students must have an education technician present.

After receiving the district’s government form calculating aid, local allocations and property valuations, the board presented a proposed 9.71 percent increase in local assessments.

For Greene it’s a 10.43 percent increase; for Leeds, 8.99 percent; and for Turner, 9.50 percent.

In Turner it represents a $115 increase in taxes on a property assessed at $100,000. In Greene it’s a $78 tax increase on a $100,000 property. And in Leeds it amounts to a $109 increase on a $100,000 property.

Board members agreed the 9.71 percent increase is high.

A 1 percent decrease in taxes would result in a $114,000 decrease in the budget, Brandt said.

“We can’t go with a 9.71 (percent) to the community,” Director Peter Ricker of Turner said. “We would need at least a 3 to 4 percent decrease.”

“It’s going to be difficult to bring (the 9.71 percent increase) down,” Director Yuri Kowalski of Greene said.

“There’s no fluff in this budget,” Brandt said.

“Education is expensive in this day and age,” Director Richard Gross of Turner said. “We are an excellent school system and we need to continue to be on the plane of excellence.”

A line-by-line review of the budget will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 16, at Tripp Middle School in Turner, giving administrators time to find potential cuts.