FARMINGTON – Attendees of Wednesday night’s district-wide meeting will set the 2016-17 budget, with the Mt. Blue Regional School District board recommending $32.9 million in expenditures.
The budget meeting is set for Wednesday, June 1 at 7 p.m. at the Mt. Blue Campus’ gymnasium. The articles will be open, meaning the recommended cost center allocations can either be increased or decreased by those in attendance. Residents of the 10 district towns are allowed to vote.
The school board approved the bulk of the $32,973,180 budget at the April 26 meeting, after approving more than $500,000 in reductions to bring the total, proposed increase to 2.9 percent over the current fiscal year. The suggested $535,215 in cuts included teacher, ed tech and administrator positions, reductions for books and periodicals at the school libraries, and the elimination of infrastructure improvement projects such as paving work and upgrade to the phone system.
The increase over the current budget total includes increases such as previously-negotiated salaries and benefits as well as new teaching positions to meet the needs of incoming regular instruction and special education students.
Other potential increases, such as the health insurance rate hike, weren’t necessary and were cut previously from the draft budget.
Slightly more than $13.2 million of the $32.9 million proposed budget would be covered through local assessments. The state contributes $18.8 million in revenue, with additional funds provided through $300,000 in Medicare reimbursements for special education students, $100,000 in incoming tuition students, $60,000 for a state plumbing settlement to fund a Foster Technology Center program and other miscellaneous revenues.
The board has also approved using a $500,000 balance forward to reduce the budget’s impact on the local assessments. That represents a $300,000 over the current fiscal year’s balance forward.
As approved, projected assessment numbers, with 2.9 percent budgetary increase can be seen here:
Chesterville – a local assessment of $942,328, for an increase of $2,367.
Farmington – a local assessment of $4,658,913, for an decrease of $7,182.
Industry – a local assessment of $813,943, for an increase of $4,066.
New Sharon – a local assessment of $1,032,029, for an decrease of $7,430.
New Vineyard – a local assessment of $709,957, for an increase of $12,805.
Starks – a local assessment of $360,740, for an increase of $23,936.
Temple – a local assessment of $443,424, for an decrease of $9,676.
Vienna – a local assessment of $704,292, for an increase of $8,018.
Weld – a local assessment of $505,787, for an increase of $39,514.
Wilton – a local assessment of $2,910,617, for an decrease of $70,999.Total local assessment would be $13,236,013 for an decrease of $4,582.
Voters at the meeting Wednesday will set amounts for all 17 articles. Two weeks later, on Tuesday, June 14, a confirmation referendum will be held in all 10 towns in conjunction with state elections.
A confirmation referendum will be held on Tuesday, June 14 in all 10 towns. Voters may cast ballots either affirming or rejecting the budget set at the June 1 meeting. A ‘yes’ vote sets the budget while a ‘no’ vote rejects it, effectively restarting the process.
Poll places and times can be seen here (all towns vote on June 14):
Chesterville votes at the Town Office, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Farmington votes at the Community Center, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Industry votes at the Town Office, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
New Sharon votes at the Town Office, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
New Vineyard votes at Smith Hall, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Starks votes at the Community Center, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Temple votes at the Town Office, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Vienna votes at the Fire Station, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Weld votes at the Town Office, from 10 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Wilton votes at the Town Office, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
Livestream link to watch the Mt. Blue RSU budget meeting live at 7:00 pm tonight is http://livestream.com/FTCDigitalMedia/6-1-16MBRSDBUDGET.
This is your night to make a difference on the budget. What you decide will go to the referendum vote June 14th. Remember, each time Verso gets a tax credit, the towns in Franklin County have to make up the difference. The county has its own budget issues they are working on presently. Foreclosures are higher than normal. I encourage as many of the registered voters in MSAD 9 to come to tonight’s meeting an exercise your rights.
It is VERY important for everyone to go VOTE tonight on the amount of the school budget being set for OUR taxes! Please take the time to come out tonight and have your voice be heard! If you are not a registered voter of your town-no worries—see your town clerk right there in the gym to register! You will need 2 forms of identification. It takes no time at all, and that’s why they are there!
See you all at the school!
Looks like the local tax burden across all towns is decreasing by $ 4, 582 for this budget, and the town’s assessments directly reflect the real estate market, and the tough times.
I believe we should approve the budget. Our elected and appointed school board members and administrators worked many, many long hours balancing the needs of our students and our communities. I will vote yes.
Yes, for sure I’ll be there at 7 P.M. at Mt. Blue High School to voice my feelings and opinions on this budget. Anyone with concerns over how his/her tax dollars are spent should be there or forever hold his peace! This is your chance to exercise your rights as a free citizen and vote article by article on how much money you think is appropriate for the school to be spending. I hope to see you there and I have positive thoughts about the outcome. As always, Buckshot.
I would like to point out a mistake in the article. It states a 2.9% increase. that was before adding in Adult Ed. We have to be above 3% with the numbers you show to the towns under that comment.
Every town and school district around us came in with budgets that were negative, flat, or slightly higher.
Only SAD 9 comes forward with a budget that has large increases. Here are the numbers from the local
School districts (these numbers have been published in the newspapers recently):
RSU 58 Kingfield. -2.3%
RSU 54 SKowhegan. – .67%
SAD 44 Bethel. – .63%
Spruce Mountain Jay. Flat
Waterville schools. Flat
RSU 18 Oakland/China. +.65%
RSU 59 Madison. +.95%
RSU 49 Fairfield. +1.2%
Each of these districts has the same challenges as our school system, but they managed to keep their budgets
Down. Our school system administration has asked for and received large increases in the budget in 2014 and
2015 (3-4% each year). Enough is enough. We can’t afford to keep handing out large pay raises to the
Administrators every year. There are many places to find savings in this budget. Please come to the meeting
Tonight and join me with your NO votes. Thanks
@ Speaking of numbers: The reason that the total impact on the towns share of this budget appears to be a decrease is because of the additional monies that the state is contributing this year. If the state didn’t give extra money there would be a large increase to the tax payers. I wonder what the salary increase is in this proposed budget. I think that most tax payers would be astonished to here the salary increase amounts. I will be trying to reduce what is presented to the voters at tonight’s meeting.
I believe comparing the Maine Department of Education costs per student from 2015/2016 is a fair way compare budget costs, rather than looking only at the % increase:
Maine Average: $10,990
RSU 58 Kingfield. $10,511 dollars per student
RSU 54 SKowhegan. 10,417 dollars per student
SAD 44 Bethel. $ 11,793 dollars per student
Spruce Mountain Jay. $10,206 dollars per student
Waterville schools RSU 18 $ 10,000 dollars per student
RSU 18 Oakland/China $10, 000 dollars per student
RSU 59 Madison $ 11,101 dollars per student
RSU 49 Fairfield $ 10,247 dollars per student
RSU 10 Mexico/Rumford/Dixfield $10,968 per student (With a 4.2% increase, 2.9% local tax increase)
RSU 9 Cost per student is $9675 per student.
RSU 9 is below all of the neighboring districts listed above, and $ 1, 215 below the state average. RSU 9 cost per student is about $980 dollars lower than the average for all of our neighbors mentioned above.
I know the board and administrators have worked many long and difficult hours to keep the increase as low as possible. I also realize the increased state reimbursement pays for all of the 2.9 or 3 % increase overall.
We will still be one of the lowest cost districts in the state, by a large number of dollars. We will still be a much lower cost than all of our neighbors.
Our district has done a good job keeping the increases lower than our neighbors for many years, and has done an overall tax decrease this year.
Lowest cost provider, and a decrease for the local tax payer overall….My family is one set of taxpayers that will vote yes on this budget.
I don’t think that the $535,215 that was shaved from the work-in-progress budget at the time, should be listed as a ‘cut’ since those items should not have been included in this year’s budget in the first place. That terminology is misleading. Also, consider that this year, the district had extra money that was applied to the budget: $500,000 (part of the money unspent in 2014) and an extra $250,000 from the State. If you back that out of the picture, then this year’s budget increase is $1.7 million or a 5.2% increase. What happens next year folks when we don’t have that extra $750,000? It doesn’t look to me like spending at RSU 9 was reduced by much, if it was at all.
I’m not sure how each district does their math for cost per student, but here is how I see it. We have 2300
Students in our school system. This is the number given to me by the school administration. The new budget
Is $32.9 million. Divide the number of students into the costs to run the district and I get $14,304 per student.
That is the highest cost of any district!!!! Am I missing something. That is the true costs to educate our kids.
Mr. Deschenes, I know that the DOE does not factor in transportation costs and certain other costs when determining cost per student which is why you can’t divide # of students into our budgeted amount to determine the State’s official cost per student.
Mr. Allen, one thing to consider is that RSU 9 median household incomes are considerably less than a lot of these other districts. Based on data from the Office of Policy and Management on Maine.gov, the average of the median household incomes for the 10 towns in RSU 9 is only $38,341. In contrast, the average for RSU 54 is $44,973, RSU 10 is $43,498, RSU 52 is $58,797, RSU 58 is $42,968, and RSU 18 is $55,836. This needs to be a consideration when determining how much a district should be expected to pay for cost-per-student.
The data I pulled is not done by the individual districts. The data quoted comes from Maine DOE at the link:
http://maine.gov/education/data/ppcosts/2015/ppocfy15bysau.pdf
This set of pages uses the same basis for all districts. If you want to include debt service, and some use of federal money, may have another page to visit.
Can’t just divide total by number of students, and compare, unless you know all the totals for all the districts have the same basis.
Lindy,
I agree with you on the incomes needing to be taken into account. We have a higher than average state reimbursement rate because out incomes are lower than average. We also have a very high number of retirees on fixed income, all the more reason to consider reducig the burden on property owners on fixed incomes by pulling more educational funding from state based revenues like income tax, and sales tax.
The property tax exemption increased this year, and will increase again next year, doing some good for property owners with house values lower than average….
Its definitely complicated, and is not just our local issue.
This kind of interaction is truly enlightening as well as entertaining. Keep up the good work folks, but don’t forget to get spruced up for the “show” tonight at the Mt. Blue High School at 7:00 P.M. Don’t leave discouraged. It’s a long road that doesn’t have a turn in it!
Mr. Allen,
Please talk to your state representatives. Augusta has been saying that school districts need to take more responsibility in reducing spending and NOT expect Augusta to solve the problems high school costs are creating for property tax payers.
I applaud everyone that has made comments so far. This is the first time I’ve seen a school budget comment section be so civil.
I, too, am impressed at the level of civility and respect in these comments — this has got to be the finest comments section on any article ever! Also, kudos for using hard data to make your arguments and not emotions!
Disappointed. At the outcome. At how much money this is going to cost the taxpayers. At the attitude of some of the teachers.