By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HOULTON — An uncertain economic picture was painted Thursday evening as members of SAD 29’s finance committee met with representatives from Houlton, Littleton, Monticello and Hammond.
“It’s great to have the towns come and talk about the upcoming budget,” said Fred Grant, chairman of the school’s finance committee. “It’s a process we started last year to open up the lines of communication to share information. It’s our goal to be as open as possible and share ideas.”
He added that given the state’s economic concerns, school districts should be prepared to do more collaboration with its municipal members to try to keep expenses down as much as possible.
“We need to think outside of the box on ways we can all work together to reduce expenses,” he said.
SAD 29 typically prepares its budget by April and presents it to voters in a district meeting in May. Last year, only 30 individuals attended the district’s budget meeting, where residents could propose changes to the budget. At the polls, voters approved the $12,492,226 budget by a vote of 353 “yes” and 218 “no.”
“Our goal is also to maintain excellence in education, but at the same time to reduce costs over time,” Grant said. “We have to become more efficient as a school district. But we need to do this in a way that allows a change over a four- to five-year period so we don’t have a situation similar to Madawaska’s financial crisis.”
Like most school districts, the SAD 29 budget has risen steadily in recent years. In the 2005-06 fiscal year, the total budget was $10,068,006. Only once during this seven-year span did the budget decrease. In 2008-09, the district’s budget featured a decrease of about $3,000 over the previous year.
Because most school districts spend more than what the state says they should spend for “essential programs and services,” additional local funds must be raised in many communities to balance the budget. In SAD 29, however, no additional local dollars have been sought for the past three years as the district has taken money from its surplus account to cover the additional local costs.
Continuing this practice is not something the district can continue to do, said Superintendent Mike Hammer, as the undesignated fund balance has decreased significantly. He said there was currently $1.2 million in undesignated funds, but the district was using $426,000 of that to offset costs in the current year’s budget, leaving about $800,000 in reserve.
In the 2012-13 budget, SAD 29 was about $700,000 over the EPS formula.
“Our goal is to get to the point where there is no need for additional local dollars,” Grant added.
School systems throughout the state have yet to learn how much money they will receive from the state, but that should not preclude groups from meeting to discuss ideas, Grant added. The fact that the district had not yet received its financial information was “concerning.”
“We have seen the shift of the burden from the state to municipalities to pay for education over time,” Grant said. “It is not a blip on the screen and we need to be prepared for an increased demand on our municipalities moving forward. Things are tough and are probably going to get tougher.”
Houlton councilor John Fitzpatrick agreed and encouraged the board to take a look at how much money was truly needed to run the district.
“Just because they (the state) give you $8 million, doesn’t mean you have to spend $8 million,” Fitzpatrick said. “If you are saying you are going to restructure and try to cut dollars, that’s great. If you can run the school for $2 million less than what the state says, I say go for it.”
Grant said putting a school budget together was different than a private business doing the same.
“A business exists to make a profit, Grant said. “Our goal is to be successful in education and doing that with the amount of money it is going to take to do that.”
Houlton councilor Sue Tortello also urged school officials to be cognizant of the fact that raising taxes was not something that should be considered.
“Our taxpayers simply cannot bear another tax increase,” she said.
Additional committee meetings will be held in the coming weeks as the district begins the process of putting together its 2013-14 budget.
