SKOWHEGAN — Voters from the six Maine School Administrative District 54 towns have signed off on a district budget that comes with a 2% local tax increase and a new cost-sharing formula to determine how the towns split their allocations.

The budget was approved in Tuesday’s election, 2,286-1,207, according to unofficial results compiled by Superintendent of Schools Jonathan Moody. The budget won majority approval in each town.

On the cost-sharing formula referendum, the unofficial tally was 2,263 yes to 1,182 no. A majority of each town’s voters were in favor — even in Norridgewock, where town officials took the rare posture of encouraging voters to reject both the budget and the referendum.

The $53.9 million spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 marks an increase of about 4.78% over the current fiscal year, budget documents show.

Of that total, local property taxpayers would contribute $16,811,650, an increase of slightly less than 2%1.

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.

Due to uneven changes in the state-determined property valuation of each town, how the increase to the locally-funded portion would affect tax bills varies by town. 

Here area the approximate allocations for each town:

• 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%

With the cost-sharing change approved, those amounts will be adjusted 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.

Voters approved modifying the formula for how “additional local costs” are split among the towns. 

The formula will use a combination 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.

The additional local costs 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.

In this budget, the additional local portion is about $3.24 million.