Hancock faces ‘hefty’ school cost hike Projected state aid cuts, budget increases, smaller fund balance cited

HANCOCK – The combined effects of projected reductions in state aid, budget increases and a smaller fund balance likely will result in a quarter-million-dollar increase in the local school appropriation, school officials said Monday.

Anticipated decreases in state funding also are expected to have an adverse effect on school expenses in Eastbrook and Waltham.

Of Hancock’s overall 2002-2003 school budget of approximately $2.5 million, $1.6 million was raised locally, according to Union 92 business manager David Bridgham.

The anticipated loss of $57,000 in state funding, projected increases of approximately $125,000 and the lack of available balance in the current budget means that Hancock taxpayers may have to pay $250,000 more for the town’s school costs in 2003-2004.

“That’s a hefty chunk of money,” Union 92 Superintendent William Fowler said Monday.

Schools in Union 92 – which also includes the towns of Lamoine, Mariaville, Otis, Surry and Trenton – are facing an expected overall reduction in state funding of $127,000, according to Bridgham.

Besides acting as superintendent for Union 92, Fowler also serves as superintendent for Eastbrook and Waltham, which jointly run Cave Hill School in Eastbrook.

Cave Hill, which this year has 85 pupils and a budget of $1.075 million, may lose $35,000 in state funding, officials said Monday.

Bridgham said that increases in Hancock’s proposed budget could be attributed in part to the higher cost of contracted benefits, hikes in high school tuition, and additional personnel.

Of the $57,000 decrease in state assistance to Hancock, $40,000 is expected to come out of the proposed budget for the local grammar school.

Dianne Waters, Hancock Grammar School principal, said Monday no programs or positions are expected to be cut from the 237-pupil facility. Officials have decided to postpone nonessential maintenance projects, such as putting in new carpeting, she said.

“The building is in very good condition,” Waters said of the Route 1 school building. In her five years at the school, Waters said, this is the first time it has faced a cut in state aid of this magnitude.

Hancock voters will determine the grammar school’s 2003-2004 budget at Hancock’s regular town meeting on Monday, May 12.

Brenda Dickens, vice chair of Eastbrook and Waltham’s joint school committee, said Monday that Eastbrook’s share of Cave Hill’s 2002-2003 budget is $428,000 and Waltham’s share is $214,000. Without any increase in the overall budget, the towns are facing local appropriation increases for next year of $39,000 and $26,000, she said.

Exactly what will be done to address the loss of state aid has not been determined, but more staff reductions at Cave Hill seem inevitable, according to Dickens. Budget constraints last year led to elimination of one teaching position from the school’s 2002-2003 budget, she said.

“Other than reducing staff, there aren’t many places where you can trim the fat,” Dickens said. “We almost don’t have a choice.”

A public workshop on Cave Hill’s proposed budget will be held at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20, at Fowler’s office on East Main Street in Ellsworth, Dickens said. A public vote on the Cave Hill budget will be scheduled for sometime in June.