Sheepscot Valley RSU 12 set Jan. 16, 2010 as the next district meeting for adopting a budget. The referendum vote to validate the budget will be Jan. 26, and it’s unlikely it will differ significantly from what was rejected earlier.
The unit, made up of the eight towns Wiscasset, Westport Island, Alna, Whitefield, Chelsea, Windsor, Somerville and Palermo, has failed three times since early last summer to get its approximately $26.5 million budget passed for the current school year.
It is operating, as allowed, on the budget that was adopted at the Sept. 19 open floor session, even though a majority rejected it at the follow-up validation vote.
At last Thursday’s board of directors meeting in Windsor, finance committee chairman Jerry Nault, of Windsor, said a budget must pass using the two-step process by June 30, the end of the unit’s fiscal year.
Whitefield board member Lester Sheaffer asked, “What if we don’t?”
Nault replied that there would be repercussions, namely, “no money from the state.”
Nault also said the finance panel has discussed using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) monies “in a way not intended, that is, to support ongoing activities in fiscal year 2010 rather than the one-time expenses for which they were intended.” Nault queried the Dept. of Education to address the 2010 curtailment by the state, which is expected to be between $370,000 and $390,000.
Shifting money from stimulus funds to RSU 12’s operating budget appears to be an option. The finance committee favors recommending a budget reduction reflecting the amount of the curtailment. However, this decrease wouldn’t be a savings to the eight towns, Nault pointed out.
“There are no savings to pass on to the local communities since it’s a curtailment of State funding,” he said.
In the unlikely event that the curtailment is lower than anticipated, that variance could be carried over into fiscal year 2011.
If the RSU 12 board doesn’t rubber stamp a revised budget based solely on the curtailment amount, it may pursue further adjustments at its Dec. 10 meeting, which will take place at Chelsea Elementary School, Rt. 226, beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Nault underscored the need for “strategic planning” as the school unit moves forward into an “uncommonly bleak…fiscal landscape. Unless there is a significant recovery in Maine’s economy, cuts of the magnitude experienced this year, or greater, will be felt,” he said.
The board earlier considered a Dec. 12 adoption vote but approved moving the date to January when town audit reports would be available and accurate carryover figures could be applied.
Of options the Legislature is considering, he said the two-step budget process “will be under fairly intense scrutiny.” There is also a measure to provide a way for schools to opt out of their present arrangement and seek another.
