Near $7.1M SAD 4 budget moved to May 15 vote at the polls

GUILFORD — A proposed $7,087,042 SAD 4 budget for the 2018-19 school year was approved — with all 20 articles being passed as written over about 20 minutes with nearly 50 registered voters present — during a district budget meeting on May 3 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School.

The near $7.1 million spending plan is now moved to a referendum in the SAD 4 towns of Abbot, Cambridge, Guilford, Parkman, Sangerville and Wellington on Tuesday, May 15 with residents of the half dozen communities voting either “yes” or “no” to make a district-wide decision on the 2019 budget. More information on the financials is available at www.sad4.org.

The $7,087,042 figure for 2018-19 represents an increase of just over $208,000 (3.024 percent) from the current year’s budget of $6,879,013.

During an information session held before the district budget meeting, Interim Superintendent Raymond Freve explained the increase in the 2018-19 budget.

He said in addition to the $208,028 increase in the expenditure budget, revenue estimates are up $289,932. These increases have resulted in a rise in assessments for each of the six towns. The state’s subsidy formula (ED 279) has dictated that SAD 4 will be raising more locally and be receiving less — a turnaround of about $202,699.

Freve said the district state valuation is up by $866,667 to $382 million for next year, the state mill rate will rise $0.32 to $8.51 and the projected total student count is 542 or 31 less than in 2017-18.

The superintendent said these three factors have resulted in a $73,665 state subsidy reduction (3.27 percent) to a total of $2,176,464 for the 2018-19 academic year. “To feed that number there has to be local increases in the budget,” Freve said.

The local share of the spending plan totals $4,180,370, an increase of $290,375 from the 2017-18 figure of $3,889,995. The local share is made up of $3,235,991 in local required monies, just under $900,000 in local additional funds across the half dozen district communities and SAD 4’s portion of the Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative expenses. The district is responsible for nearly $44,800 of the $428,555 adult education budget.

Each component of the $3,889,995 was passed via individual articles. The local required amount passed 39-5, the local additional funds were OKed at 42-7, and another 41-6 tally approved the $7,087,042 for the total 2018-19 budget.

Abbot’s share of the proposed 2018-19 budget would be up by $49,117 to $793,972; the share for Cambridge is up $20,930 to $268,793; Guilford’s share is up $112,480 to $1,393,403; the share for Parkman is up $52,918 to $654,967; Sangerville’s share is up $38,219 to $858,086; and the share for Wellington is up $16,708 to $211,147.

The SAD 4 school board is scheduled to meet next on Wednesday, May 16 — the day after the referendum — at 7 p.m. at the elementary school.