SAD 29 budget sessions continue

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Tough budget decisions are on the horizon for the SAD 29 school board as the deadline to complete a new budget draws closer.
    The board held three budget workshops last week, but is still a long way off from taking final action on a fiscal budget for the 2011-12 school year. An additional workshop is slated for Wednesday, May 18 at 5 p.m. at the Houlton High School cafeteria.
    A target date of June 28 has been set to hold a referendum vote on the budget, but before that can happen the board is looking at areas it can trim before it votes on the budget.
    The good news is that the district will receive more state money next year than it did this year. The bad news is, however, that in order to get that additional money, the district will have to raise more in the form of a local share.
    According to Interim Superintendent Ray Freve, SAD 29 will receive $8,471,791 in state funds for the 2011-12 school year. That figure is up $139,701 from the $8,332,090 it received this year. However, in order to get that full amount of state funding, the district needs to come up with $2,806,479, which is an increase of $372,849 over last year’s figure.
    “Last year, we had no additional local, using part of the [surplus] to defray the cost of the budget,” Freve said. “We are probably going to do the same this year, but the question is, ‘How much are we going to use?’”
    The district has about $1,000,000 in an undesignated fund balance from money that has accumulated over the year from unspent accounts. The district has traditionally used some of this fund to defray the impact to taxpayers.
    “The fear is, if you take all your surplus, you create a cliff with nothing to back you up,” he said. “This district has been very fortunate to have that [surplus] balance because it’s been creating revenue for you in the form of interest.”
    On Tuesday, May 10, the board approved nearly $300,000 in cuts to the budget to help reduce the cost to taxpayers. Those cuts featured the elimination of several positions, including a part-time junior high music teacher; a long-term/permanent substitute teacher in the industrial arts program; a high school custodian (through attrition); a library ed tech; and a certified occupational therapist aide.
    A home school coordinator position was also eliminated.
     As presented during Thursday’s budget workshop, the SAD 29 budget is currently at $11,976,545.58. That figure is up just $118,361 over the current school budget.
    “The gross budget is not bad, but it’s the local costs that are killing us,” Freve said.
    Another cause for concern is the loss of $178,466 in federal stimulus (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) funds, which the district has been using to fund positions at its schools for the past few years.
    “The district knew they had a limited window with those funds,” Freve said.
    The district also has some tough decisions on whether to fund programs that they previously received grant money for, such as the Reading First program.
    At Thursday’s meeting, the school board directed Freve to meet with administrators to find ways to trim the $372,849 difference from last year to this year’s budget or provide justifications as to why certain programs should be retained.
    “We’ll look at all lines,” Freve said. “If there are areas we can cut, such as supplies, we’ll look to cut that first as opposed to cutting a person. Nobody wants to tell someone they don’t have a job.”