Voters approve SAD 1’s $22.3 million budget
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE – Voters passed a 2010-11 SAD 1 budget last Tuesday of $22,373,819 by a significantly strong margin.
The May 18 budget referendum – Question 1 – was approved in four of the district’s five communities. In Presque Isle, the budget was approved 262-144. In Mapleton, the referendum was approved 54-20, Castle Hill passed the budget 12-7, while the budget was OK’d in Chapman by a vote of 16-8. Westfield defeated the referendum 13-9.
In total, 545 people voted on the budget. Of that, 353 (65 percent) voted “yes,” while 192 (35 percent) voted “no.”
“This is a tough budget year, and a lot of reductions had to be made including personnel cuts,” said SAD 1 Superintendent Gehrig Johnson. “The board was trying to balance between a budget that would be accepted by the voters and one that would keep our system in tact. We feel good based on the size of the positive vote … 65 percent of the vote shows very strong support for the budget, so we’re pleased about that.”
Johnson said had the budget not been approved by voters, additional staffing cuts would have been made.
At the polls, district voters also decided they wanted the budget validation process to continue.
Until 2008, voter consideration of the SAD 1 budget was done at a single district meeting held at Presque Isle High School; however, as part of the comprehensive school reorganization legislation passed in 2007, school budgets are now subject to a two-part approval process.
Initial budget consideration is done at the traditional district-wide meeting. Budget amounts set at the meeting are then submitted for a second look and “validation” by secret ballot in each of the five municipalities. The combined vote of the five communities determines whether the budget is “validated” or whether the entire budget process gets repeated.
Question 2 asked: “Do you favor discontinuing the budget validation referendum process in SAD 1?” Results show that all five communities defeated the measure:
• Presque Isle – 232 (58 percent) voted “no,” and 169 (42 percent) voted “yes.”
• Mapleton – 44 (61 percent) voted “no,” while 27 (39 percent) voted “yes.”
• Castle Hill – 10 (56 percent) voted “no,” while 8 (44 percent) voted “yes.”
• Chapman – 16 (70 percent) voted “no,” and 7 (30 percent) voted “yes.”
• Westfield – 18 (82 percent) voted “no,” and 4 (18 percent) voted “yes.”
In total, 535 people voted on the budget validation referendum process. Of that, 320 (60 percent) voted “no,” while 215 (40 percent) voted “yes.”
“We’ll have the budget validation process for three more years, and then it will come up again by statute,” said Johnson. “Sixty percent of the voters wanted to keep the process, and that also speaks very strongly. Our concern is that the number of people who actually vote is less than 5 percent.
“Last year we had the budget validation referendum on a primary date and this year we had it in May; however, the percentage was higher this year than last year,” he said. “We hear from people that if we had the referendum on a primary, more people would vote, but that’s not always the case.”
Prior to last Tuesday’s budget validation referendum, the district’s budget meeting was held May 12 at the PIHS cafeteria.
After electing Mike McPherson as moderator to preside over the meeting (Article 1), residents approved the following items:
• (Article 2) $8,300,595 for Regular Instruction.
• (Article 3) $2,421,365 for Special Education.
• (Article 4) $1,381,015 for Career & Technical Education.
• (Article 5) $837,462 for Other Instruction.
• (Article 6) $1,395,244.60, which excludes $351,872.40 in federal ARRA Title XIV stabilization funds, for Student & Staff Support.
• (Article 7) $494,524 for System Administration.
• (Article 8) $1,020,755 for School Administration.
• (Article 9) $1,809,540 for Transportation and Buses.
• (Article 10) $3,248,096 for Facilities Maintenance.
• (Article 11) $671,290 for Debt Service and Other Commitments.
• (Article 12) $175,000 for All Other Expenditures including School Lunch.
• (Article 13) $4,798,260 in local tax dollars to receive all of the available state support for education.
• (Article 14) $536,519.18 for the annual payments on debt service previously approved by the legislative body for non-state funded school construction projects, non-state-funded portions of school construction projects and minor capital projects, in addition to the funds appropriated as the local share of the school administrative unit’s contribution to the total cost of funding public education from pre-Kindergarten to grade 12.
• (Article 15) $1,778,943.82 in additional local funds, which exceeds the state’s Essential Programs and Services allocation model by $1,353,358.12. A written ballot was required for this article. It was approved 105 (Yes) to 2 (No).
• (Article 16) $21,754,886.60 for the board of school directors to expend for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2010 and ending June 30, 2011 from the school administrative unit’s contribution to the total cost of funding public education from pre-Kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act, unexpended balances, tuition receipts, state subsidy, and other receipts for the support of schools.
• (Article 17) $351,872.40 in federal ARRA Title XIV stabilization funds.
• (Article 18) Appropriate $267,060 for Adult Education and raise $136,650 as the local share; with authorization to expend any additional, incidental, or miscellaneous receipts in and for the well being of the adult education program.
