LIVERMORE FALLS — There was confusion at Thursday night’s Regional School Unit 73 meeting regarding how much money the school district had in carryover funds because of a miscalculation in the 2016-17 budget.
RSU 73 auditor Jeffrey Hubert, CPA, MST for Macpage LLC, went over the audit and answered questions from the school board and the public.
Earlier in this year’s school budget process, it appeared there would be nearly $1 million in excess funds that would have to be expended over a three-year period in compliance with state law.
However, what occurred was an estimated carryover number based on the 2015-16 budget used to help figure the 2016-17 budget and the correct number wasn’t plugged in.
School board Chairwoman Denise Rodzen said that because the estimated number instead of the actual audited one was used last year, it will have an impact on carryover amounts this year.
For the 2017-18 budget, it is projected $570,983 in carryover funds will be available.
“So we have to expend estimated money that doesn’t really exist and then we come back and find out that number has changed,” said Spruce Mountain Middle School teacher Rob Taylor. “It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s going to impact kids and programs.”
“A major mistake occurred,” said Jay resident Michael Ventrella. “Hopefully, somebody would have caught that we wouldn’t have a million dollars left over.”
Because of the school board having to cancel meetings because of inclement weather, the school budget approval process has been pushed back. Rodzen said she wasn’t sure when the next meeting would be scheduled, but extra meetings may have to be held.
The district’s school budget meeting had originally been set for April 6. While the board may not be able to settle on final figures by that time, Rodzen said it was more important to make fully informed decisions than rushing to fit everything into the original schedule.
“We are charged as a board to be fiscally responsible, but also to educate our kids,” she said.
Jay Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said the original budget meeting date of April 6 had been put in the town report, and a referendum vote on the school budget set for April 25, along with the rest of the town warrant articles. By pushing the school budget meeting date back, there will have to be two separate referendums and also two sets of absentee ballots, she said.
In other business, the board:
• Approved the Spruce Mountain High School prom to take place at Black Mountain in Rumford on May 13.
• Accepted, with regret, the retirement of Spruce Mountain High School math teacher Annette Girardin, effective the end of the 2016-17 school year.
“It doesn’t make any sense, and it’s going to impact kids and programs.” — Spruce Mountain Middle School teacher Rob Taylor
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less