Voters in RSU 12 overwhelmingly approved a $19.7 school budget, 595 to 321, by referendum vote on June 11.
With the exception of Somerville, all towns voted in favor of the budget. In Somerville, voters rejected the budget by just one vote.
In a phone interview June 11, Superintendent Howard Tuttle said he was pleased with the budget approval and credits efforts in keeping the budget very close to last year’s levels for its acceptance by voters.
“We kept people informed throughout the budget process and we were fiscally responsible,” Tuttle said.
Last year’s RSU 12 budget took two referendums to get approval.
Results by town were: Alna 35-13; Chelsea 126-67; Palermo 71-54; Somerville 26-25 against; Westport Island 101-28; Whitefield 121-55; and Windsor 116-78.
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.
The total local share is figured to be $9,933,920, which is a decrease of 0.12 percent from the 2014 budget.
