BELFAST, Maine — Regional School Unit 71 residents who come to the budget validation meeting on Tuesday will see that school board members and the new superintendent have worked to cut more than half a million dollars from the proposed budget that voters rejected last month at the polls.
The revised $25.18 million document reflects a $225,000 reduction to what the board initially had proposed adding to the contingency fund, and smaller cuts in other areas, including for maintenance, repairs and instructional supplies. It is the first budget for the new five-town school district, and so it is hard to make apples-to-apples comparisons with previous years. Still, it will cost the communities of Belfast, Belmont, Morrill, Searsmont and Swanville $332,567 more than they spent last year on education.
Superintendent Paul Knowles said this week that he hopes lots of residents will come to the meeting to ask questions and then cast their votes “in an informed way.”
“We really need to have a budget so we can move forward and start the new year,” he said.
At least one outspoken district resident would like even more budget cuts. Peter Sheff of Morrill, who recently founded a group he’s calling Save Our Homes, said that while the revised budget is an improvement, it still will require additional funding from property taxpayers.
“It’s born out of the frustration of the never-ending tax increases we receive, primarily because of the school budget,” Sheff said Friday of the ad hoc advocacy group. “The school board just seems to have an insatiable appetite for more taxes.”
He said he would like the board to trim at least one of the three new positions that have been added. The superintendent had suggested to the directors that the district save some funds by deleting the new positions in elementary art, high school band and middle school foreign language. But the directors voted in favor of keeping the positions, even though eliminating them would have saved $180,000.
“The board really is passionate about reinstating positions that were cut,” Knowles said.
That irks Sheff, who said he’s just as passionate about relieving some of the tax burden that weighs heavily on him and others who live in the district. Since starting his group he said he has heard from other people, perhaps 50 so far, who also said they cannot keep bearing the annual tax increases that are largely driven by education spending.
“I give the superintendent kudos for having the heart to look at things,” he said. “Here’s my slogan: a quality education at an affordable cost. Let’s figure out how we can present a budget that does not raise taxes on the homeowner. When you reach the saturation point, and I believe we are there, the people have to stand up and say — no more.”
The RSU 71 budget validation meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, at the Troy Howard Middle School gymnasium. If the budget is passed at the validation meeting, a referendum vote will be held in the five RSU 71 towns on Tuesday, Aug. 4.