SAD 1 voters OK budget

    PRESQUE ISLE, Maine – It took SAD 1 community members a matter of minutes last Wednesday to approve a 2007-2008 budget of $22,342,100.
The district budget meeting was held June 6 at the Presque Isle High School auditorium.
    In addressing the residents of the district, Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said SAD 1 is looking at “several concerns through our budget proposal.”
“We are heeding the call for tax relief as we propose decreasing total local property taxes for education by $276,150 or a little over 4 percent in our fiscal year,” he said. “The effective mill rate for education will drop from 12.9 mills this year to 11.6 mills next year based on average state valuations for the two years and based on the district’s fiscal year.
“As is the case for all school units,” said Johnson, “salaries and benefits represent the lion’s share (about 71 percent) of our budget. For next year, employment costs will go up about 3 percent reflecting a cost-of-living increase for all of our employees and the proportional increase in the district’s share of ever increasing medical insurance premiums. We are also recognizing the employment and other costs associated with providing services to other local educational units.”
Johnson reminds residents that the city sets the mill rate.
“We don’t set the mill rate or the tax rate,” he said. “It’s the tax bill to the city that we lowered. This is the first reduction of the tax bill that we sent the city in about 16 years.”
At the district budget meeting, voters approved five monetary articles. Article 1 was to elect a moderator to preside over the meeting. Once again, Mike McPherson was chosen.
Article 2 concerned the state/local Essential Programs and Services funding allocation. In order to receive the state allocation of $14,413,049, SAD 1 must raise $4,113,204. Each municipality that comprises the district has been assessed a contribution as described in the EPS Funding Act. Castle Hill is expected to pay $114,948, Chapman ($133,548), Mapleton ($570,648), Presque Isle ($3,143,772) and Westfield ($150,288).
Other articles voted on and approved June 6 included:
• Article 3. Non-state Funded School Construction Debt Service.
This is the amount of money needed for the annual payments on the district’s long-term debt for major capital school construction – Presque Isle Middle School – that is not approved for state subsidy. The district recommended – and voters approved – $403,799. The bonding of this long-term debt was approved by district voters Nov. 4, 2003.
• Article 4. Additional Local Funds.
This is the money needed to balance the budget. The approved amount was $1,749,977. Because the current EPS model includes a regional adjustment for salaries, benefits and substitute teachers, SAD 1’s subsidy was reduced by $923,685. In addition, the 100 percent EPS allocation calls for a state total share of $15,333,715 or $920,666 more than the district will actually receive in 2007-08.
“We anticipate a substantial increase in state funding through the EPS allocation mechanism,” said Johnson. “We are very pleased with the increased amount while we also note that under full EPS funding, we would have received nearly $1 million more.
“With the additional funds, we will be addressing some long deferred and much needed infrastructure projects,” he said. “We will also be purchasing two new school buses as we strive to upgrade our fleet.”
Some of the major improvement projects include repaving the Mapleton Elementary School parking lot, estimated at $30,000; exterior wall and window replacement on the west wing of Pine Street Elementary School ($15,000), east wing ($30,000), and south wing ($30,000); window and wall replacement on the west side wing of Zippel Elementary School ($20,000); gym roof covering at Presque Isle Middle School ($90,000), a fire alarm system at Presque Isle High School ($156,000), emergency generator at PIMS ($30,000), intercom/bell system replacement at PIHS ($30,000); and a track upgrade at the Johnson Athletic Complex at Presque Isle Middle School ($120,000).
• Article 5. Adult Education.
The district recommended $145,520 locally for the adult education program. The state share for adult education is projected at $104,012 for fiscal year 2008.
• Article 6. Summary.
The district recommended $22,342,100 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2007 and ending June 30, 2008 from the foundation allocation, debt service allocation, unexpended balances, tuition receipts, local appropriations, state subsidy, block grants, and other receipts for the support of schools.
Johnson said 50 voters approved the budget in about 16 minutes.
“Usually we average about 100 voters,” he said. “It seems that the size of the crowd is affected by the amount of the tax increase or tax reduction. This year was a tax reduction, so we saw a decrease in voters. When the budget is up significantly, it tends to grab the attention of residents.
“All of our communities are very supportive of the schools, and we’re very appreciative of them,” said Johnson. “We continue to try to deliver the best education that we can to their children.”
Following the district budget meeting, directors held their regular monthly meeting.
Directors were notified that several district employees were retiring including Dianne Folsom, physical education teacher at PIHS (34 years); Martha LaPointe, gifted and talented/district wide (36 years); Lorna Tobin, grade four/Mapleton Elementary School (38 years); Rudolph Tardiff, bus driver (11 and-a-half years); Richard Currier, bus driver/custodian (40 years); and Winnifred Ireland, cook at MES (30 years).
In addition, Julie Gardner was transferred from seventh-grade math/language arts teacher to computer teacher at PIMS; and Angel Casavant from seventh-grade science/language arts teacher to grade six science at PIMS.
Directors also voted to purchase revenue anticipation notes from Key Bank on an as needed basis up to $1 million.
“We have all of these projects we do in the summer, and we have a lot of upfront costs that we have to pay in July, August and September,” said Johnson, “but the subsidy payments from the state come to us in equal monthly amounts, so we have what we call revenue anticipation notes to make sure we have the bills paid until the revenue catches up with it.”
The next regular SAD 1 board meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 18 in the board conference room at Presque Isle High School.