Voters approve SAD 1 budget
By Scott Mitchell Johnson
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Voters passed a 2012-13 SAD 1 budget of $22,960,050 last Tuesday by a significantly strong margin.
The May 15 budget referendum was approved in all five of the district’s communities. In Presque Isle, the budget was approved 165-21. In Mapleton, the referendum was adopted 29-2, Castle Hill narrowly passed the budget 7-5, Chapman approved the budget 12-0, while the budget was OK’d in Westfield by a vote of 6-3.
In total, 250 people voted on the budget. Of that, 219 voted “yes,” while 31 voted “no.”
“We’re pleased with the vote and that the budget passed by a wide margin — 86 percent — but it was a very low turnout of voters,” said Superintendent Gehrig Johnson. “Out of 8,691 eligible voters, only 250, or 3 percent, voted.
“It’s the smallest number we’ve ever had. This is the third year — by law — that we’ve had to do the two-step budget process — a district budget meeting and a budget validation referendum. Each year we’ve had less participation. This is an expensive extra step in the process that is clearly not being participated in by the public,” he said. “Several thousand dollars are spent to have this referendum each year. No other budget — county, state, legislature or municipality — has this step in the process; only the school and the communities are not participating in it, and we’re paying for it at a time when every dollar matters.”
The question of whether to continue the validation process will again be on the warrant next May.
Johnson said with the approval of the budget, the district “will reduce the local K-12 education mil rate based on state property valuations and on our July 1-June 30 fiscal year from 9.87 to 9.53 mills for district municipalities.”
Loss of state funding continues to present substantial challenges for the district.
“Next year we will suffer a loss of $624,750 in state aid. Since state aid to SAD 1 crested in 2008-09 at about $14.5 million, we have dealt with annual reductions to the point where next year’s subsidy is $2.5 million or 17 percent less than it was just four years ago,” said Johnson. “In addition, we will lose $221,833 in federal Jobs Bill funds for combined revenue losses of $846,583.”
Johnson said that despite the large losses of aid, the district was presenting a budget “that keeps programming intact for another year.”
“We will be eliminating six teaching positions and five support positions through attrition to help reduce expenses,” he said. “We will also be tapping some of the cash reserves we have set aside in recent years to help address the continuing budget hurdles we — and all school units in Maine — will continue to face not only next year but for the foreseeable future.”
With the passing of the budget, three communities will see an increase in school taxes. Castle Hill residents will see a 2012-13 property tax levy of $233,851, an increase of $4,760; Chapman — $277,193 (up $4,160), and Presque Isle — $5,383,345 (up $7,601). Mapleton ($1,155,445) will see a decrease of $11,242) while Westfield ($265,286) will see a decrease of $5,279.
