FARMINGTON — Residents of Regional School Unit 9 towns will consider a $32.97 million 2016-2017 budget at the districtwide budget meeting Wednesday.
The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Mt. Blue High School gymnasium. The figure approved by those in attendance will go to a referendum Tuesday, June 14, for final approval in each of the district’s 10 towns.
The proposed $32,973,180 budget represents a 2.9 percent increase over the current budget. It was approved in April after RSU 9 board of directors asked administrators to bring them budget requests that represented a maximum 3 percent increase.
Voters initially rejected last year’s budget, and the board had to cut an additional $200,000 before a $32.04 million package was approved at a second districtwide meeting in July.
The 2016-2017 proposed budget was formulated differently than in prior years, with the entire board of directors involved in the process rather than an ad-hoc budget committee overseeing it. Additionally, in an attempt to get more resident input during the budget process, three informational meetings were held and residents in attendance were encouraged to ask questions and voice their concerns about the budget.
“I’m hoping that through all of the information we sent out, and we’ve been live-streaming our budget meetings, I hope people have enough information that people see all the work that was put into formulating the budget,” Superintendent Tom Ward said Tuesday.
Ward said that during the 2016-2017 budget cycle, the district will get an estimated $1,050,000 increase in revenue from the current budget cycle because of an increase in the state’s funding contribution, a higher-than-expected carry-over fund balance, and the revenue the district will receive from MaineCare through special education reimbursements.
This year the district will receive an additional $250,000 in state funding. The additional state funding plus the $500,000 in carry-over money and an estimated $300,000 that the district hopes to receive through MaineCare reimbursements allowed for minimal increases on town contributions, Ward said.
RSU 9 includes Chesterville, Farmington, Industry, New Sharon, New Vineyard, Starks, Temple, Vienna, Weld and Wilton.
The budget affects town contributions by an increase of $814 for Chesterville, a decrease of $14,636 for Farmington, an increase of $2,702 for Industry, an decrease of $9,014 for New Sharon, an increase of $11,508 for New Vineyard, a $23,029 increase for Starks, a decrease of $10,283 for Temple, an increase of $6,787 for Vienna, an increase of $37,176 for Weld, and a decrease of $74,891 for Wilton.
The proposed budget represents an overall decrease of $26,808 for the district’s 10 towns, with increase in some towns’ contributions and decreases in others.
Lauren Abbate — 861-9252
Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate
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