SKOWHEGAN — Residents of the six towns of School Administrative District 54 on Tuesday validated the $32,894,711 budget for the coming year.

Voters originally approved the budget at the annual budget meeting May 28. Approval is a two-step process.

The vote Tuesday broke down as follows:

Canaan: 25 yes, 26 no.

Cornville: 28 yes, 13 no.

Mercer: 17 yes, 6 no.

Norridgewock: 62 yes, 17 no.

Smithfield: 35 yes, 8 no.

Skowhegan: 286 yes, 140 no.

The SAD 54 budget is $562,114 or 1.74 percent more than the current budget, which expires June 30.

Of the entire school budget, the local share is $13,174,289, while the state share is $17,288,032. The state paid $17,377,136 last year.

Under the new agreement for local payments for teacher retirement costs, SAD 54 pays $394,000, which is covered in the 2013-14 budget.

The state pays the rest of the more than $1 million, according to School Superintendent Brent Colbry.

The increase in tax assessments to the towns is $479,292, or 3.5 percent more than they were billed for the current budget, according to Colbry.

Colbry said the new budget includes the elimination of 18 full- and part-time jobs to avoid a double-digit tax increase in district towns.

The cuts were achieved by not filling vacancies left by retiring teachers and by reducing existing staff positions from full-time to part-time with no actual layoffs.

No salary increases are in the proposed budget.

Of the $1 million in cuts, $414,427 was found in not replacing staff members who are retiring.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367
dharlow@centralmaine.com

 

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