SALEM – Voters from the MSAD 58 towns of Avon, Kingfield, Phillips and Strong will consider a $9.19 million school budget at a meeting to be held Tuesday, May 31. The meeting will start 6:30 p.m. at Mt. Abram High School.
In April, the MSAD 58 school board unanimously voted to recommend a $9.19 million budget for fiscal year 2016-17.
The $9,190,427 budget represents a decrease of $215,943 from the current fiscal year, or 2.3 percent. The majority of that decrease, Superintendent Susan Pratt has said at previous meetings, is due to lower overall salary and benefit costs due to a large number of new staff members hired across the district. Staff with fewer years of experience are paid less than those with more experience.
Town assessments would decrease in all four towns if the budget is approved by voters at the annual budget meeting and accompanying referendum vote. Avon’s assessment would decrease $4,513 to $421,410, a total of 1 percent; Kingfield’s assessment would decrease $33,839 to $1,404,401, a total of 2.35 percent; Phillips’ assessment would decrease $1,603 to $844,233, a total of 0.2 percent; and Strong’s assessment would decrease $9,299 to $873,121, a total of 1.37 percent.
In total, the local share would decrease $49,254 if the $9.19 million budget is approved.
The budget does include a 2 percent increase in wages for employees that did not receive a contractual pay increase, including clerical, food service staff and other hourly employees. Nurses, who saw their hours increase slightly, received a 1.65 percent wage increase. The raises fall in line with the increases teachers got, which were close to 2 percent.
Among the other increases are $34,200 for a part-time elementary social worker, $17,700 for laptop purchases through the MLTI refresh program and $15,000 to start the repair to the Kingfield Elementary School roof. Decreases in the budget include $101,882 in debt service payment with the payoff of the Stratton Elementary School loan, $17,800 by moving from a director of guidance to a school counselor and $13,600 in secretarial support at Mt. Abram High School.
Residents will be voting on 11 cost centers and the Adult Education budget Tuesday night. After the meeting in which voters set the July 1, 2016-June 30, 2017 budget, a district-wide referendum to validate the action taken at the budget meeting will be held on June 14 at the polls in each town.
