SAD 70 budget features slight rise in spending

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — The SAD 70 school board approved a “bare bones” budget of $6,281,988 Monday evening that features an increase of $43,344 in spending over last year.
    A public hearing and vote on the budget will be held Thursday, May 31 at 7 p.m. at the Hodgdon Mill Pond School gymnasium. Because the district employs a referendum process for approving its budget, residents may only decrease line items in the budget. No increases can be made to the plan as it’s presented.
    A district referendum will follow on June 12 in the member communities of Amity, Cary, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick.
    Because of further decreases in state subsidies, the actual increase to member towns is $85,041. It marks the second straight year that the district has had to present a fiscal document that featured an increase over the previous year. Last year’s budget of $6,238,644 was an increase of $180,000, while the 2010-11 budget of $6,058,644 featured a decrease of $190,205, and the 2009-10 plan had a decrease of $140,000.
    “We’ve met several times over the last three or four weeks trying to formulate a budget,” said Joel Oliver, vice chairman for the school board.
    “The finance committee tried to keep the budget down as much as possible, while still being fiscally responsible to the public, and yet still provide a good education for our students,” added Superintendent Bob McDaniel. “We considered keeping everything we have currently, but that would have been quite an increase.”
    As presented, the budget will result in increases to all seven communities of SAD 70. A breakdown of the local impact, which is based on state valuations, is as follows: Amity, $128,061 (an increase of $6,028); Cary, $114,631 (up $3,435); Haynesville, $89,691 (up $2,053); Hodgdon, $546,777 (up $23,308); Linneus, $590,903 (up $10,422); Ludlow, $221,109 (up $14,266); and New Limerick, $710,695 (up $25,528).
    “There was a lot of thought put into this budget,” Oliver said. “It’s amazing to see what the administrators have been able to do with less (state) money.”
    Featured in the budget is $10,000 to fund an engineering study for replacing the heating system at Mill Pond School.
    “The air ventilation systems are out-dated,” McDaniel said. “Some rooms can feel like 100 degrees, while others are not.”
    Two math interventionist positions, which had previously been funded by grant money, would have to be covered by local tax dollars next year. The combined positions will cost taxpayers $105,000.
    “When we look to improve our schools, what we saw was a math weakness,” McDaniel said. “We hired math interventionists with grant money, but that money expired at the end of this year. They have proven to be valuable additions to our district.”
    Among the other increases were $20,000 for fuel; $9,000 for the athletic director; $16,000 for after-school program; and $20,000 for staff salary raises.
    A reduction of $80,000 was achieved by eliminating a proposed bus purchase. McDaniel said the existing fleet was in good enough condition that it could skip a year from making a bus purchase, even though such purchases are reimbursed by the state in subsequent budgets.
    Other reductions came from attrition in the technology department and the decision to reduce the Spanish teacher to half time.