NEW SWEDEN, Maine — Few members of the public attended a special school budget breakdown meeting offered to New Sweden residents last Thursday at the New Sweden School. School board members offered a glimpse at what goes into constructing the school’s budget.
“It’s important to provide information to citizens so they may make informed decisions when it comes to voting on school budgets,” said Debbie Eustis-Grandy, chair of the New Sweden school board.
This is the first time the school board has offered an overview like this. “There’s a lot of questions that come up at town meetings that require much more detailed answers than the town meeting format allows,” Eustis-Grandy said. “We wanted to have an opportunity for citizens to learn about the school funding process, so that we could answer questions they might have.”
The goal is to have the school budget ready for New Sweden’s town meeting in June, but Eustis-Grandy said it all depends on the state legislature.
“We have the governor’s proposed numbers, but once the legislature plays with those they may go up or down or stay the same,” Eustis-Grandy said.
With Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed preliminary budget figures the New Sweden School is looking to receive $384,450 from the state for 2015-16. Last year’s budget cycle share was $421,952.
“The bottom line is the proposed governor’s budget is not favorable to municipalities, schools or even to the average person,” said Nancy Holmquist, New Sweden school board member. “The school is my concern and I know how people feel if there needs to be additional money asked for that comes from property taxes. I honestly feel getting the budget so all the programs we’re required to do are funded, that’s a concern.”
The chair of the New Sweden town budget committee, Bub Anderson, hopes the town won’t have to raise its mil rate to meet the budget.
“It’s a fine line between keeping the school going and having people pay their taxes so the town survives,” Anderson said. “A lot of people on fixed incomes, a lot of retired people. And you’ve got to try to keep a happy medium. You got to keep the children in town, but you also got to keep the older people in their homes.”
Eustis-Grandy is hopeful the school board will have a draft budget ready by their April meeting.
