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RSU 12 Board of Directors Chairman Hilary Holm administers the oath of office to moderator Richard Thompson at the RSU 12 budget meeting at Whitefield Elementary School May 20. (Kathy Onorato photo) |
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By Kathy Onorato
With little discussion, voters attending the RSU 12 budget adoption meeting May 20 at the Whitefield Elementary School adopted a $19.7 million budget for fiscal year 2015.
The $19.7 million budget breaks down into the following cost centers: regular instruction, $9,890,289; special education instruction, $3,535,671; career and technical instruction, $216,700; other instruction (includes summer school, co-curricular and athletics), $112,186; staff and student support, $682,811; system administration, $618,938; school administration, $622,377; transportation and buses, $1,003,573; facilities maintenance, $1,176,349; debt services, $1,825,375; other expenses (includes school lunch), $50,000.
Voters also approved funding a $112,698 adult education program, of which $67,000 will be raised from taxes.
“It was a very smooth meeting,” said RSU 12 Superintendent Howard Tuttle. “A lot better than last year.”
Tuttle, during his budget presentation, told voters Wiscasset’s withdrawal created some budget challenges for next year. One of the biggest was trying to predict the amount of the state subsidy RSU 12 would receive without Wiscasset’s being part of the district.
Tuttle said his initial prediction for the state subsidy was $467,000 more than what the district will actually receive. He said one factor the state uses to figure subsidy is the experience of a district’s teachers.
“Wiscasset has some very experienced teachers,” Tuttle said.
A district is also given additional subsidy when it has a high school, and now RSU 12 does not have a high school, Tuttle said.
The over-estimate of state subsidy was offset by reductions totaling $451,800, which kept the budget close to fiscal year 2014’s.
RSU 12 is planning to use $650,000 of Wiscasset’s withdrawal payment to help reduce the total local share for the fiscal year 2015 budget.
The total local share is figured to be $9,933,920, which is a decrease of 0.12 percent from the 2014 budget. Some towns in RSU 12 will see an increase in their local contribution because of the implementation of the new cost-sharing formula. Palermo, Somerville, and Windsor will see increases in local contributions, while Alna, Chelsea, Westport Island, and Whitefield will see a decrease. By fiscal year 2017 all towns in RSU 12 will be paying the same cost per student.
Palermo residents at the meeting were not able to cast their votes because neither the town clerk nor a voter list was available to verify voters. Tuttle said he was not sure what happened but indicated all towns were notified of the date, time, and location of the adoption meeting.
The budget adoption on May 20 completes the first of a two-step budget approval process. The next step is the budget validation referendum which will be held on June 10 at each of the town’s polling places. Absentee ballots will be available town offices beginning May 21.
