Board reviews SAD 29 budget

15 years ago

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer

    HOULTON — SAD 29 board members were given their first glimpse at a proposed 2010-11 fiscal year budget that features a spending package of nearly $12 million.
    While the exact figures that the district will receive from the state have not yet been finalized, SAD 29 Superintendent Steve Fitzpatrick said the gloomy economic picture that he originally forecast for the district back in December, 2009 did not materialize, thanks to extra money the state infused into its education budget. The district had been looking at a loss of nearly $500,000 in state funding.
    The proposed 2010-11 budget is $8,457.65 less than the current year’s budget.
    “The task was given to me that the board wanted a budget that impacted positively in terms of local assessed taxes,” Fitzpatrick said. “The proposed budget, because of the infusion of state dollars, does this. The budget impact in terms of loss of state dollars coming into SAD 29 was less than I anticipated. We had been planning for this eventuality, but that did not occur.”
    Last year, the school’s budget of $11,998,049 featured an increase by about $271,000, Fitzpatrick said to help bridge what was then perceived to be a loss in state money for the coming fiscal year. The district has also been frugal with its spending this year, which should result in about $1.2 million left over from the current year’s budget, based on estimates by the superintendent.
    “We took a specific action to reduce our optional spending this year,” Fitzpatrick said. “We reduced travel and infused the retirement incentive. We also did not fill an Ed Tech position and chose not to fill a technology assistant position.”
    Some of that anticipated carryover could be spent by applying $294,000 to reduce the tax burden this year, while $338,690.45 will be placed in the district’s Capital Improvement fund.
    Based on changes in the town valuations for Houlton, Hammond, Littleton and Monticello — the towns that comprise SAD 29 — the impact on each of the town’s will be negligible. Houlton, naturally, has the biggest tax base of the four towns; however the economic impact the budget would have for Houlton taxpayers is down considerably due to a change in valuation.
    Houlton’s share of the proposed budget would be $1,948,682.89, which is a decrease of $223,536.81 (down 10 percent). In comparison, Littleton’s share of the proposed budget would be $368,046 (an increase of $947.71); Monticello’s share would be $291,679.30 (down $6,663.25); and Hammond’s share would be $43,221.57 (down $3,568.13).
    “This is only a draft,” Fitzpatrick said. “All of these are calculations and projections. I am looking for direction from you [the school board].”
    Included in the 2010-11 budget is a 1.5 percent increase in wages for teachers and administrators. The district has reached a “tentative” agreement with the teacher’s association on a new contract that will be voted upon at the board’s April 5 meeting. Other contracts for support staff will be visited in the coming months.
    Also included in the budget is $179,877 the district will receive as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Those federal stimulus funds are up from the roughly $118,000 the district received in ARRA money last year.
    The ARRA money is used to fund the district’s curriculum coordinator position, as well as other educational resources and positions within the district. However, next year, those funds will no longer be available to school districts, which means if the curriculum coordinator’s position is to remain, it will have to be funded in a different manner.
    “A lot depends on the state’s economy,” Fitzpatrick said. “I can’t predict exactly what will happen, but there should be a difference in valuations again next year. My plan is to protect the district and maintain the flexibility we have with the budget.”
    Fitzpatrick also presented several possible add-ons to the budget, which could be funded by the surplus money, should the board so chose. Among those possibilities were the addition of a math lab person; a math intervention specialist; an elementary art teacher; and additional math resources.
    Fred Grant, a member of the Houlton Town Council who attended the budget meeting, expressed his concerns about how the large amount of unspent money in the current year’s budget could be perceived by taxpayers.
    “The concern, in a taxpayer’s eyes, is those funds should be accounted for in a single year,” said Grant. “You have a lot of excess funds. It’s going to be very difficult for the board to get town approval for a budget that carries over a surplus of $1.2 million.”
    Fitzpatrick said his presentation was only the first draft of the budget, designed to generate talks between board members.
    “This is only the beginning dialogue,” Fitzpatrick said. “My proposed budget reduces the amount raised by taxes by $232,000. The goal was to have no increased impact to the towns and this budget does that.”
    School board member Kim Thompson expressed reservations presenting a budget to taxpayers that featured a minimal reduction in spending, considering the tough economic climate.
    “We’re taking a budget to the town and we have shown nothing in terms of shaving any part of the budget,” Thompson said. “We haven’t taken away anything.”
    “I am not going to present a budget to you that does,” Fitzpatrick said. “We are among, if not the lowest, per pupil spending districts in the state. From my perspective, this budget should be an easy sell because we are returning nearly a quarter of a million dollars to the towns, yet maintaining all of our programs.”
    Board members will take another look at the budget at their next regular meeting, slated for Monday, April 5 at 6 p.m. in the Superintendent’s Conference Room.