SAD 1 budget faces round two
Second public meeting July 19, 2016
On Tuesday, July 19 at 7 p.m. SAD 1 will be hosting the second District Budget Meeting. The meeting will be held in the Auditorium of Presque Isle Middle School and will consider the revised budget for SAD 1.
This meeting is in the format of a town meeting. A moderator is elected to oversee the process and allow for discussion. All proposed budget articles are open for amendment, both up or down.
In order to better inform the public, Superintendent Brian Carpenter and Assistant Superintendent for Business Clint Deschene are going to host a two-hour question-and-answer period on the same night, at 5 p.m. in the Auditorium of Presque Isle Middle School. The question-and-answer session is an informal conversation where residents may ask any question they may have on the budget or the budget process.
After this meeting, the last step in the approval process is a district-wide referendum on Thursday, July 21 where voters go to their local polling place in each of the five SAD 1 communities and cast their vote. Presque Isle’s polls are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Castle Hill, Chapman, Mapleton and Westfield are all open 3-7 p.m. Detailed information on voting or absentee ballots is available directly from member communities.
According to SAD 1 administrators, the proposed budget is a 1.3 percent increase in property taxes based upon last year’s valuation for the City of Presque Isle, as confirmed with the assessor’s office. A chart has been created by SAD 1 staff to represent the percent change in each member community for the district’s fiscal year.
“This can be confusing because the school district and city have different fiscal years and are using different city values. The direct answer is that in the municipal year and comparing the school’s tax increase from $6,203,590 to $6,464,821 there is a 2.43 percent increase in the district and 2.11 percent to Presque Isle,” said Deschene.
“However, the City compares last year’s tax commitment (2015 taxes not 2016) with a mill rate of 25.46 and calculates the increase as .34 for the school (again using 2016-17 school budget with the city’s 2015 tax commitment). .34 is 1.3 percent of 25.46,” he added.
The total SAD 1 budget is $24,553,825, excluding Adult Education. Of this, $18,801,384 (76.57 percent) is pay and benefits. SAD 1 will have a local share of property taxes from its five member communities of $8,861,990. In 2013-14 the local property taxes to education was $8,383,200. This is an increase of 5.7 percent over four budgets; an average of 1.425 percent per year.
For further details please contact Carpenter at 764-4101 or Deschene at 768-3441.
