March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

SAD 53 voters approve budget in light turnout

PITTSFIELD — The SAD 53 1998 budget was approved Tuesday night, but not without opposition.

Burnham and Detroit voters both defeated the additional local funds, which were $1.6 million to be shared by the district communities. But Pittsfield voters carried the local article, with voters approving the additional funds 296-216. When the dust settled, the local funding had been approved by only 66 votes.

Voter turnout was light, with 103 voting in Burnham; 518 in Pittsfield; and 84 in Detroit. Superintendent Terry McCannell was apprehensive Tuesday night as he awaited election results. McCannell said he was afraid that unenrolled voters were not aware they could participate in the voting. He arranged to have several radio messages urging residents to go to the polls.

In Detroit, voters defeated all but the bottom line of the budget, rejecting state and local funding but approving $21,763 for adult education.

In Burnham, voters, by a slim margin of 60-43, approved the basic allocation of $5.1 million, but defeated the additional local funding. They approved the total budget of $7.2 million and also approved the school

Voters in Pittsfield approved every aspect of the budget by 3-to-1 with the exception of the local additional funding. That article passed by only 80 votes.

This year’s budget was one filled with technology, as district directors tried to bring classrooms, libraries and media centers up to date. Directors cut thousands of dollars in requests from teachers and administrators in 13 budget sessions. Items such as 16-year-old sports uniforms will not be replaced, while the emphasis on competing in the 21st century resulted in the middle school program being replaced by Spanish.

Also cut from the budget proposals was a portable classroom to house an excess of kindergarten pupils. Instead, directors voted to bus the additional Pittsfield children to a classroom at the Burnham Village School.


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