ROCKLAND, Maine — Contractual obligations alone are expected to hike the 2016-17 Rockland-area school budget by $820,000.
The administration will be presenting its budget to the board later this month, but Regional School Unit 13 Business Manager Peter Orne said Monday that contractually obligated raises will increase the budget by $445,000 and projected increases in health and retirement benefits will add another $375,000.
That combined $820,000 translates into a 3.25 percent increase in expenses.
The business manager said preliminary state aid figures released late last month by the Maine Department of Education show that the district should receive an additional $370,000 in revenues.
The proposed consolidation of the two high schools into one and the merger of the two middle schools into one will result in savings, he said, but those savings are spoken for already. Those savings will be used to undertake energy efficiency projects in the schools that will remain.
To merge the two high schools, the administration has proposed an addition to the cafeteria at Oceanside High School East in Rockland as well as renovations to the locker rooms. The cafeteria expansion is estimated to cost nearly $700,000, and the locker room project would cost nearly $560,000.
Another $173,000 is proposed to be spent to expand the cafeteria at Oceanside West, which would become the district’s single middle school under the proposed consolidation.
Replacing the windows at Oceanside East is estimated to cost up to $800,000, and a ventilation project is priced at an additional $855,000.