ROCKLAND, Maine — The second time was the charm as residents approved Tuesday a $25.2 million budget for Regional School Unit 13.
The 2015-2016 budget was approved 341-295 throughout the district. Four towns supported the budget while Cushing residents narrowly rejected the package.
Steve Roberts, chairman of the RSU 13 board, credited the hard work of the administration and the board in reducing the property tax impact on communities with the revised budget. The first budget was rejected 793-524 by residents in June.
After that meeting, the board approved a budget that cut the property tax impact by about $1 million with about one-third of that reduction the result of additional state aid and the remainder through spending cuts, including in contingency accounts.
Several vacant staff positions will not be filled, but no one will lose their job from the reductions because of resignations and retirements.
“This is another sign that we’ve turned the corner,” Roberts said. He said the Schools of the Future initiative, which will be unveiled by the administration in October, will continue that path. That initiative could result in the consolidation of school buildings within the district.
Rockland supported the $25,240,636 budget Tuesday 149-145. Thomaston supported it 72-60. Owls Head backed it 52-30 and South Thomaston supported it 31-13. Cushing residents voted 37-47 against the budget.
With the changes, the amount of additional property taxes needed from the largest RSU 13 community of Rockland would be limited to $700,000, about half of what originally had been proposed. This means a person owning a Rockland home assessed at $150,000 would pay about $135 more in annual taxes