HOULTON, Maine — While other school districts are facing serious budgetary problems, RSU 29 appears to have avoided the increased tax burden that other communities are up against, at least for the next school year.
The RSU 29 board unanimously endorsed a $13.1 million budget Monday evening that marks a $282,653 increase in spending over last year. However, thanks to a large anticipated carryover balance, coupled with a one-time refund from the Maine Public Employees Retirement System, the actual impact next year is a decrease of almost $11,000.
In preparing the budget, the district cut four teaching positions as the result of retirements or resignations. No employees lost their jobs as a result of the eliminations, according to district officials.
Residents will have an opportunity to go over the fiscal plan on a line-by-line basis at the district budget meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, May 18 at 6 p.m. in the Houlton High School auditorium.
The budget marks the first created by RSU 29 Superintendent Ellen Schneider, who took over the post July 1, 2016, but inherited a budget created by former superintendent Mike Hammer.
“Some of you [board members] have been here long enough to have been through this process with a few different superintendents,” she said. “We all come at them our own way.”
In preparing the 2016-17 school budget, Schneider said she reached out to Charlie Anderson, a former colleague of hers from her time at SAD 1. Anderson is the former finance director for SAD 1 and is regarded around the state as one of the foremost authorities on school budgets, she said.
The state’s “required local” share for RSU 29, or the money that the district must raise locally in order to receive state funding, has risen steadily over the past seven years as part of an ongoing shift of the state pushing more costs to the local taxpayers, Schneider said.
In 2010-11, the district raised $2,433,630 for its required local share and received $8,510,556 from the state. This year, RSU 29’s required local share is $3,274,627, with the state providing $8,798,163. The state contribution is down $237,011 from last year.
Since those two numbers do not add up to the total spending plan for the district, RSU 29 must raise $111,982 in “additional local” dollars. The district is also expecting to carry forward $300,000 from the current year’s budget and is taking $100,775 out of the undesignated fund to reduce the tax implication.
RSU 29 is also receiving a one-time payout from the Maine Public Employees Retirement System in the amount of $299,225.
Because of changes to the state’s valuation for the communities of Houlton, Hammond, Littleton and Monticello which make up RSU 29, some towns will see an increase, while others will get a decrease.
Houlton should get a reduction of $8,000, while Littleton will see a decrease of $6,265. Hammond and Monticello, however, will experience slight increases of $1,396 and $2,157 respectively.
Schneider told the board that the proposed budget was likely the final time the district would be able to come up with a zero impact to taxpayers because taking money from surplus only goes so far.
Many other school districts in the area have already experienced the financial spike Schneider alluded to. In neighboring Presque Isle, for example, the proposed 2016-17 SAD 1 budget of $25.2 million is an increase of $1.1 million over last year.
