SKOWHEGAN — Voters from the six towns in Maine School Administrative District 54 gave preliminary approval Wednesday night to a $53.9 million budget that would come with a less than 2% overall property tax increase.

The budget proposal goes next to the validation referendum scheduled June 9. Polls are open that day in Canaan, Cornville, Mercer, Norridgewock, Skowhegan and Smithfield alongside primary elections and some municipal races.

The roughly 35 voters, plus 14 members of the district’s 23-member board of directors, who attended the validation meeting Wednesday at the Skowhegan Area High School gymnasium made quick work of signing off on the budget proposal. The six towns in MSAD 54 combined had about 10,000 registered voters as of March, the most recent state data shows.

Those who attended the meeting approved all 18 warrant articles in less than half an hour, with no questions asked or comments made.

The budget proposal, which the board of directors unanimously approved in April, comes in at $53,899,914, about 4.78% higher than the current fiscal year, budget figures show.

Of that total, local property taxpayers would contribute $16,811,650, an increase of 1.998%.

The rest of the budget is supported by $32,802,528 in state funding and $4,285,736 in other revenue, according to budget documents. The other revenue includes $1.75 million in unassigned fund balance, one-time funding from the state due to the district’s poverty level at just more than $200,000 and Medicaid billing for certain services anticipated to bring in about $870,000.

Personnel costs, including wages and benefits, comprise about 85% of the budget.

Challenges in this year’s budget process included a 10.4% increase to health insurance costs, a roughly 10% increase in fuel and insurance costs and changes in state law that resulted in salary bumps for educational technicians and higher costs for Paid Family and Medical Leave, Superintendent of Schools Jonathan Moody wrote in a presentation.

Approximate allocations for each town would be as follows:

• Canaan: $1.35 million, up 3.16% over the current fiscal year.

• Cornville: $983,000, up 6.74%.

• Mercer: $711,000, up 5.75%.

• Norridgewock: $2.31 million, up 6.10%.

• Skowhegan: $10 million, down 0.46%.

• Smithfield: $1.46 million, up 7.45%.

Voters June 9 will also be weighing in on a proposed change to the district’s cost-sharing formula for “additional local costs,” which in the budget proposal total about $3.24 million. That referendum question is entirely separate from the budget validation.

The additional local funds are those that go beyond the state Essential Programs and Services formula that determines the district’s state subsidy and how much each municipality must pay for schools, regardless of their district.

A committee of representatives from each of the six towns put forward a proposal that would change the cost-sharing calculation to a weighted formula of 90% property valuation and 10% pupil count for two years, and then 80% property valuation and 20% pupil count thereafter. Since the district’s founding in 1967, it has always split the additional local funds based solely on property valuation, Moody said.

If the cost-sharing change is approved, the allocations listed above would be affected as follows: 

• Canaan: $17,800 increase.

• Cornville: $4,500 increase.

• Mercer: $2,400 decrease.

• Norridgewock: $16,100 increase.

• Skowhegan: $25,000 decrease.

• Smithfield: $11,000 decrease.

Informational budget materials are available online at https://bit.ly/54Budget.