PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Beginning in early April, members of the SAD 1 school board will start discussions on the 2019-2020 fiscal year budget, with hopes for no increase in the school district’s portion of local property taxes and only a slight increase in the overall budget.
During their monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 20, board members voted to approve budget workshops on Wednesday, April 3 and Wednesday, April 10, with a district budget meeting on Monday, May 8. The anticipated budget validation vote is set for Tuesday, May 21. All budget workshops and meetings will be open to the public.
During the workshops, board members expect to discuss in more depth their desire to avoid any property tax increase while allowing for a 1.4 percent increase in the overall budget. They also expect the need to eliminate certain staff positions in order to balance revenue with expenses.
Last year, SAD 1 voters passed a $24.7 million budget that included increases in local property tax shares of 2.9 percent for Presque Isle, 7.8 percent for Mapleton, 4.5 percent for Castle Hill and Chapman, and 6.5 percent for Westfield. Currently SAD 1 operates on 11.35 mills of local property taxes.
After residents initially rejected that budget at the polls in May, the district chose to present the same budget to voters in hopes of pursuing spending that stabilized or eliminated their fund balance and aligned with right-sizing goals. That budget passed at a secondary vote in June.
As part of the right-sizing goals, the district would have closed Pine Street Elementary School and Zippel Elementary School in favor of renovating Presque Isle Middle School into a K-8 grade building. However, in November, voters defeated a referendum to raise $15 million for those renovations, with an initial mill rate increase to 12.55 mills and projected five-year decrease to 11.7 mills.
SAD 1 Interim Superintendent Gehrig Johnson said on March 20 that the district hopes a proposed budget with no increase to the local contribution will sit better with voters in May.
Part of the reason for the slight increase in the budget comes from the need to repair the Pine Street roof and replace the artificial turf on the soccer field at Presque Isle Middle School’s Johnson Athletic Complex. Although the board will discuss the roof repairs at a later date, on Wednesday they unanimously approved a 10-year lease/purchase plan to fund the artificial turf replacement, which has a total project cost of $573,228. The replacement is expected to take place this summer and to be completed by fall 2019.
Johnson said that two businesses that have been serving as sponsors for the soccer field for years — Coca-Cola and MMG Insurance — have signed on to contribute to the project. Coca-Cola is donating $4,000 per year for 10 years while MMG is giving $10,000 per year for five years. The interim superintendents said he also has been in contact with two other companies in hopes of signing on one of them as a third sponsor.
The new turf is expected to have a useable lifespan of 15-18 years and also generate about $2,500 a year in rental income. So far, he said, SAD 1’s contribution to the project has been reduced to $43,323 per year.
“The field turf at the middle school is the only field turf soccer facility north of Bangor and has put us on the map statewide” said Clint Deschene, SAD 1 assistant superintendent of business. “It’s long exceeded its 10 to 12-year lifespan and has needed repairs every year for several years now.”
While discussing the upcoming budget, Johnson noted that he and the school board are hopeful about the projected $312,000 in additional state aid that SAD 1 would receive if Gov. Janet Mill’s proposed two-year budget, which includes a $126 million increase in funding for K-12 schools, passes. But the district has to still look at ways to reduce costs and maintain a more stable budget than in years past, which now include the potential elimination of four teacher positions, one part-time secretary position in the SAD 1 central office, and a part-time bus driver.
Johnson said the board has chosen to propose eliminating the teaching positions that have the “least impact on curriculum for students.” For instance, a foreign language instructor position for Presque Isle High School that was on the 2018-2019 budget but never filled could easily be set aside. The board also proposes eliminating one math teacher position at the high school, which has been filled this year by an instructor with only a one-year teaching contract.
“In talking with administrators and staff at the high school, we feel that we have the right amount of teaching staff to handle the curriculum already there without having that extra position,” Johnson said.
The administration also is proposing eliminating 7th and 8th grade teaching positions at Presque Isle Middle School. Currently both grades have six teachers each but the average class size of 16 to 17 students no longer justifies having that many teachers. The plan, Johnson noted, would be to hopefully transfer those teachers to other open positions in the building while maintaining only five teachers each for grades seven and eight.
“When staffing and payroll benefits make up 75 to 80 percent of the district’s budget and you want to avoid a tax increase, unfortunately staff reductions become part of that reality,” Johnson said. “Those conversations are never pleasant, but they’re necessary.”
The first public budget workshop for SAD 1 will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3.
