HAMPDEN, Maine — Residents of the Regional School Unit 22 member towns of Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport and Frankfort approved a $29.5 million spending plan for local education during validation votes Tuesday in their respective communities.
Districtwide, the final tally was 417-161, Superintendent Rick Lyons said Wednesday.
Hampden voters approved the budget in a 202-64 vote, while the results in Winterport were 169-77 in favor. The results in Newburgh were 31-13, and in Frankfort, the budget passed 15-7, Lyons said.
The $29,548,782 gross budget reflects a roughly $560,000, or 1.9 percent, increase from this year’s budget, Lyons said last month.
He said, however, that state revenue increased by $408,000, which helped soften the blow.
To further offset the increase, school officials came up with more than $317,000 in budget cuts, including adjustments related to retirements, the elimination of an interpreter and an elementary teacher, reductions to an English language teaching position and a high school foreign language position and a high school education tech post, the budget overview shows.
Now that the 2015-16 budget has been approved, the local share for Hampden will be $6,113,135, up 1.62 percent from this year, according to a budget overview developed by school administrators.
Newburgh’s local assessment will be $1,013,420, an increase of 1.63 percent from this year, while Winterport’s portion will be $2,509,973, an increase of 0.24 percent. Frankfort’s $800,419 share will be 0.66 percent more than this year.