RSU 50 budget fails at polls

    STACYVILLE, Maine — It is back to the drawing board for the RSU 50 school board after the district budget failed at the polls Thursday by a vote of 301-402.
The RSU 50 board is expected to review the votes and discuss a plan of action Wednesday (today) when it meets at the Katahdin Elementary School cafeteria at 6 p.m.
    Thursday’s referendum vote may have come as something of a surprise to RSU 50 board members considering a public hearing and district budget meeting a week earlier saw little to no discussion on the budget. The spending plan was approved at that meeting by an overwhelming margin.
A breakdown of votes by communities is as follows: Patten, 36 in favor, 71 opposed; Mt. Chase, 23 in favor, 34 opposed; Stacyville, 20 in favor, 25 opposed; Dyer Brook, 28 in favor, 12 opposed; Sherman, 39 in favor, 118 opposed; Oakfield, 47 in favor, 29 opposed; Island Falls, 55 in favor, 73 opposed; Crystal, 6 in favor, 19 opposed; Smyrna, 28 in favor, six opposed; Moro, three in favor, none opposed; Hersey, five in favor, none opposed; and Merrill, 11 in favor, 15 opposed.
The $9.267,716 spending package for RSU 50, the first of the new school consolidation unit, was up slightly over what the two school districts spent combined last year. The combined budgets for SAD 25 and CSD 9 last year were $9,235,646.
While the actual spending was up just slightly, the impact to the communities was much greater, due largely to a decrease of about $300,000 in state funding. Compounding the problem, the required local share for the district in order to get full state funding was $2,386,779, an increase of 2.5 percent.
Because the district is spending more than what the state says it should for “Essential Programs and Services,” additional money is 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 planned to take $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. And while a few communities would see a decrease, most were looking at hefty raises in their taxes.
As presented, the amount to be raised for each community, and the tax impact it would 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 $12,101 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); and Stacyville, $286,380 (an increase of $59,016, up about 2.43 mills).