BELFAST, Maine — Residents of Regional School Unit 71 will be asked next week to validate a $25.9 million budget next week — and not every voter who lives in the five-town school district is pleased with that number.
The proposed budget reflects an overall increase of less than 1 percent in assessments to the communities of Belfast, Belmont, Morrill, Searsmont and Swanville. According to RSU 71 Superintendent Paul Knowles, the final draft reflects “countless hours” of work by the school board and the administration.
“I think it’s a very thoughtful budget,” he said Friday. “We brought in a budget we feel is fiscally responsible and still brings us in line with the board priorities.”
The RSU 71 budget validation meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday, May 23, at Troy Howard Middle School in Belfast. The final budget is scheduled to be approved by referendum next month.
The proposed budget for the next fiscal year includes increases in salary and benefits, special education and transportation and buses, among other areas. Those increases will be largely offset this year because the school district can use nearly $1 million in general purpose aid from the state, $436,000 from the Maine Public Employees Retirement System’s surplus retirement funds and an estimated $800,000 in carry-forward funds.
But that worries some residents, including former Belfast school board member Christopher Hyk, who shared his concerns about the school budget earlier this week at the regular Belfast City Council meeting.
“Using the new math, the superintendent is telling us we’re getting a 0.7 percent increase,” Hyk said in the public comment section of the meeting. “I think if we figure in the money we’re getting from the state and other sources, it’s considerably higher than a 0.7 percent increase. One reason these budgets keep going up is the enrollment keeps going down. I think there are a number of reasons for that. One is that people with children can’t afford to live here because of the taxes.”
According to Knowles, salary and benefits have gone up because of negotiated contracts and an increase in insurance premiums, and the special education budget has gone up because there is an increase in staffing in that area. The school district will spend more next year on facilities and maintenance because it has to, he said.
“There are needs that need to be taken care of,” Knowles said. “Everything from roof repairs to plumbing repairs. Just deferred maintenance that needs to be attended to.”
If the budget passes as proposed, it will mean that local communities will need to pay a total of $108,385 more for education than they did last year. The amount of extra funds will vary from community to community — Belfast will see an increase in assessed funds of $63,229, for instance, but Searsmont will see a decrease of $63,995. Belmont will be assessed an additional $36,856 for schools, Morrill will pay $18,349 more and Swanville will be assessed an additional $53,944.
Hyk told councilors at the meeting that he believes the school board could do better.
“Having been on the board, I’ve seen opportunities squandered and savings squandered,” he said.
But Belfast City Councilor Mike Hurley said this week that he believes decisions made in Augusta are the reason that property taxpayers are shouldering an ever-increasing share of the costs for schools.
“I want people to know that this is something that is happening statewide because of the governor and the Legislature cutting support for communities and education,” he said. “And they leave us to fight over it. This is a failure of the government of the state of Maine.”