$8M figure set for SAD 41 budget referendum

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    MILO — Residents of SAD 41 gave their approval to a 2014-15 school budget totaling $8,034,429 during the annual district meeting on June 26 at Penquis Valley High School. This total figure represents an increase of $193,110 from the current academic year, and was scheduled to be decided via the referendum across the four SAD 41 communities on Monday, June 30.

    “The first thing we want to talk about with this year’s budget is the challenges,” Superintendent Michael Wright said during the informational session prior to the vote on the warrant articles. He said $370,000 would be used from the undesignated fund balance in the budget, $180,000 less than for the 2014 fiscal year as SAD 41 officials don’t want to be left with a large shortfall.
    “The other challenge we are talking about is with our facilities,” Wright said, saying new boilers were installed at the Penquis Valley complex several years prior and district officials are looking at possible upgrades to the heating system. “Part of this year’s budget is a facilities study of all of our buildings so we can make some good decisions moving forward,” he said, mentioning overcrowding at Milo Elementary as another area to be examined.
    “Do you put $1.2 million into the heating system here in this building or not, and we don’t know,” Wright said saying the facility study will help make these decisions. He said Stephen Blatt Architects of Portland was chosen to conduct the study of SAD 41 properties.
    The amount SAD 41 receives from the state is up by nearly $126,700 to a figure of just under $4,778,700, while the contribution from the towns of Atkinson, Brownville, LaGrange and Milo is approximately $2,022,770. “The total increase in this budget to taxpayers is $21,463,” Wright said.
    This breaks down to increases for the four towns, with Atkinson’s assessment up by a little more than $4,000 to nearly $210,000, Brownville’s being up by about $5,400 to over $558,400, LaGrange seeing a near $1,260 increase to slightly less than $345,000 and Milo’s assessment rising by approximately $10,740 to a figure of just under $909,400.
    “When you think about the budget there area a few things we don’t have control over,” Assistant Superintendent Stacy Shorey said. She explained property valuation is determined by the state, and while these figures used to be calculated year to year now it is every other year and starting in 2015 property valuations will be determined every three years. This leads to a concern that a funding formula will respond too slowly to a declining valuation.
    “When you hear the AOS isn’t working it isn’t true,” Wright said about the partnership between SAD 41 and SAD 31 of the Howland area. He said he and Shorey, who also is the curriculum coordinator, serve both AOS member districts, as does a transportation director and business manager. Wright said the AOS provides educational benefits to students as well.
    He said “if you hear SAD 41 is paying for SAD 31 that isn’t true.” As an example, Wright said an SAD 41 bus was used to transport an SAD 31 tennis team but the Howland district paid its AOS partner for this service.
    In addition to a ballot question asking to approve the 2014-15 budget, residents of LaGrange were asked if they favored authorizing the school board to close the Marion C. Cook School. Shuttering the building would provide an estimated saving of $304,680.48, but citizens could vote for the town to fund the facility for another year. Most recently the Cook School was the site of the Carleton Project and the Academy Program, with K-5 students attending Milo Elementary and all SAD 41 sixth-graders being at Penquis Valley as part of the district-wide realignment.