To the Editor:
The vote about consolidation has come and gone. It is time for the voters in Sheepscot Valley RSU 12 to pass a budget for our new school system.
The budget proposed this time is 0.7 percent ($182,830) higher than last year’s combined, restated budget. Unfortunately, due to a significant decrease in state funding ($1,763,067 less than last year) the local revenue request has increased 15 percent ($1,876,639). Based on our RSU Plan, all RSU 12 towns share this increase equally: each town’s local education cost has gone up 15 percent compared to last year.
If town selectmen choose to apply it, educational carryover (if it exists) can help soften this local increase. That decision has already been made in each of our towns and the current year’s taxes will not change based on the outcome of this month’s budget votes.
Yes, votes, plural. The budget process takes two steps; the first step is voting on (and possibly changing) the board-recommended amount in each of 11 parts of the budget (“cost centers”) at the Regional Budget Adoption Meeting Sat., Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. at Windsor School.
The second step is voting on the bottom line (as determined on Jan. 16) by absentee ballot or at the polls on Tues. Jan. 26. The vote must be positive on Jan. 26 in order to pass the budget (either the one recommended by the RSU 12 Board, or the one adopted by those voters present on January 16).
The RSU Finance Committee, working with the Superintendent and administrators, has reduced another $400,000 from the proposed FY 2010 budget. A regional Budget Adoption Meeting information handout with details is being provided to all residents via the mail. Look for it this week as an insert in our first RSU 12 Newspaper, the “Sheepscot Valley Current.”
In an effort to preserve programs, some of the reductions are being supported instead by federal ARRA (stimulus) funds. ARRA funds are “one-time” funds; they will not recur and therefore only give us a short window of reprieve to come up with sustainable cost-cutting measures. This is the breathing room we need as we get our feet under us in this first year of RSU 12. Fiscal year 2011 will be a very difficult year financially for RSU 12 as well, but the superintendent and administrators are already doing research and making plans that will bring more efficiency to the district.
The proposed 2010 budget is a responsible, cost conscious budget. We have cut where we can. It is time for us to pass this budget and support public education in RSU 12 and stop wasting $10,000 every time we have to go to the polls. This money can be better spent educating our children.
Please participate, and this means – unless you have a real problem with the proposed budget – vote “Yes.” Voting is our democratic privilege; anyone with a stake or interest in public education needs to get out and vote. Call me if you need a ride to the polls or to vote absentee, I’m in the phone book.
Hilary Holm
Whitefield
