HAMPDEN – The SAD 22 board of directors will consider tonight a proposed $16.8 million budget that calls for a 5.56 percent increase over the current year.

Unanimously endorsed by the board’s Budget Committee, the local share for 2001-2002 would be $7,032,969, an increase of $264,132 or 3.9 percent.

Bearing the brunt of the proposed hike is Newburgh, whose $776,580 allocation is 5.76 percent above the current budget. Meanwhile, Winterport’s assessment is $1,899.183, or 4.10 percent higher, while Hampden’s share is $4,357,205 or 3.49 percent above the current year.

Dismayed at the town’s rising cost of education, Newburgh Selectman Gene Sparrow on Tuesday called the proposal “absolutely unacceptable and totally inequitable.”

“We’re getting clobbered,” he said. “Eighty-five percent of the people in town have below average incomes. Why should we have to pay so much more to educate the kids here than Winterport and Hampden when they both have tremendously large tax bases and we have zero.”

Higher health insurance premiums and negotiated salaries are responsible for most of the budget increase, Superintendent of Schools Rick Lyons said Monday.

Rises in the costs of fuel, gasoline and electricity as well as supplies and transportation also contribute to the higher figures, he said.

Acknowledging a rising student enrollment at Hampden Academy, the budget calls for $20,500 for a half-time teacher for advanced placement biology and advanced placement chemistry.

Also proposed is $10,300 for an additional day for school nurses in the elementary grades; and $14,000 for a part-time athletic trainer, replacing the volunteer who helped coaches and students at Hampden Academy during the past six years.

Newburgh’s share of the budget is higher because the state property valuation continues to go up, according to Lyons.

The town’s property values have risen 4.65 percent or $2,275,000 during this fiscal year, he said. In comparison, Hampden’s has gone up 2.23 percent or $6,125,000, while Winterport’s have risen 2.77 percent or $3,100,000.

The state determines property valuation by looking at a community’s recent real estate transactions.

But Sparrow said the current school funding formula based 80 percent on property valuation and the rest on student population is out of whack.

“The only thing that moves in town is high-valued houses because professionals move in and out of the community,” said the selectman, who would like to see at least half of the funding formula based on student count.

With 217 students in the district, Newburgh has the least representation. Hampden has 1,353 students and Winterport has 741.

Taking issue with the additional staff included in the proposed budget, Sparrow also said salaries could have been negotiated more cost effectively.

“We want the best education, but we can’t pay for a Cadillac when we can only afford a Ford,” he said.

The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Reeds Brook Middle School.