RSU 50 budget hearing set for Thursday

  DYER BROOK, Maine — Residents in southern Aroostook will have an opportunity to ask questions on the proposed $9,267,716 RSU 50 budget on Thursday. An informational session begins at 6 p.m. in the Southern Aroostook Community School’s multi-purpose room, followed by the district budget meeting, where voters will be asked to approve warrant articles, at 6:30 p.m.
    At Thursday’s district meeting, voters could propose further cuts to the budget. If the budget passes, additional action, in the form of a referendum vote will take place Thursday, June 30 in the various communities that comprise RSU 50. Those communities include Crystal, Dyer Brook, Hersey, Island Falls, Merrill, Moro, Mt. Chase, Oakfield, Patten, Sherman, Smyrna and Stacyville.
Previously, those communities were served by two separate school districts — CSD 9 and SAD 25. Those districts merged this summer, as a result of state-mandated consolidation laws. By consolidating, the communities saved $146,794 that would have been incurred in the form of penalties from the state.
The RSU board approved the 2011-12 school budget on June 7. Two school board members — Scot Walker and Christine Loucka voted against the budget as presented.
Comparing the 2011-12 school budget to previous budgets is difficult since this is the first year of consolidation for the two districts. Interim Superintendent John Doe provided the board with a comparison of what a consolidated budget would have been between CSD 9 and SAD 25 if they had merged last year. Based on the figures Doe presented, the total spending for RSU 50 is up slightly ($32,070) compared to a year ago.
Like many other districts in the area, RSU 50 will receive slightly less in terms of state funding, and will have to come up with more local money in order to receive that state funding. The district will receive $4,744,949 from the state, a decrease of nearly $110,000. The district also lost $161,928 in stabilization funds and adult education reimbursement, decreasing the total amount of state aid by nearly $300,000.
Income, in the form or tuition, day programs, interest and sports revenues, is also taking a hit, down $450,000 from a year ago, giving taxpayers a double-whammy.
The required local share for the district in order to get the full state aid is $2,386,779, an increase of 2.5 percent. However, because the district is spending more than what the state says it should for “Essential Programs and Services,” additional local funds are needed from each of the communities to balance the budget. That additional local figure is $1,746,918 (an increase of nearly $700,000).
To help reduce the tax impact, the district is taking $400,000 from its surplus account, bringing the bottom line local costs to $3,769,767. That figure is an increase of nearly 10.6 percent ($360,693) over a year ago. That increase will be spread throughout the communities, based on valuations. Some communities will actually see a tax decrease, but the majority will see a spike in their tax bills.
As presented, the amount to be raised for each community, and tax impact it will have, is broken down as follows:
• Crystal — $175,217 (an increase of $8,394, up about .57 mills).
• Dyer Brook — $185,804 (an increase of $12,1, up about .77 mills).
• Hersey — $32,449 (a decrease of $53,375, down about 6.63 mills).
• Island Falls — $849,933 (an increase of $22,694, up about .31 mills).
• Merrill — $157,514 (an increase of $6,169, up about .46 mills).
• Moro — $23,713 (a decrease of $10,362, down about 1.01 mills).
• Mt. Chase — $351,107 (an increase of $56,680, up about 1.67 mills).
• Oakfield — $504,969 (an increase of $44,627, up about 1.04 mills).
• Patten — $487,265 (an increase of $104,419, up about 2.53 mills).
• Sherman — $491,891 (an increase of $94,330, up about 2.26 mills).
• Smyrna — $223,526 (an increase of $16,000, up about .84 mills).
• Stacyville — $286,380 (an increase of $59,016, up about 2.43 mills).
Similar to neighboring SAD 29 (Houlton, Littleton, Monticello and Hammond), the RSU 50 board made some tough budget decisions, including several cuts to education tech positions. A kindergarten position that had previously been eliminated due to attrition was reinstated in the budget, due to student enrollment figures, at a cost of $40,000.
Doe encouraged the RSU board to start taking a hard look at each of the district’s cost centers to prepare for a tighter budget crunch next year.
“I’m all for looking at every cost center, but I’m not for cutting the quality of education,” Walker said. “I think that’s an awfully fine line. A $50,000 increase spread out over the entire district is not too much. I’m pro-education and not so much cut-cut on the budget.”
Board chairman Philip Knowles said the board was tasked with cutting $200,000 from its budget last month, but that money is already slowly creeping back in.
“We just don’t know on some positions,” Doe said. “We may have students move into the district that have high needs. It could happen tomorrow.”