PRESQUE ISLE – SAD 1 and Limestone School Department officials on Tuesday signed a deal in which SAD 1 will manage transportation and custodial services for the Limestone system.

The contract is for a three-year period from July 1, 2003, through June 30, 2006.

The first year of the contract is for $205,900 based on a rate of $2.90 per mile for 71,000 miles. The mileage figure incorporates custodial services.

The cost of the second and third years of the contract would be based on such things as wages and the cost of diesel fuel, said Jeff Bearden, SAD 1 assistant superintendent.

Tuesday’s signing marks the third such deal SAD 1 has cut with area school systems during the past three years.

SAD 1 provides transportation, custodial and administrative services for the Bridgewater School Department. The district also oversees transportation services for the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone.

“Governor [John E.] Baldacci and Education Commissioner [Susan] Gendron have really been touting these types of proposals,” Bearden said. “It’s a way to move money in for students [programs].”

He described the contract with Limestone as a win-win situation because SAD 1 will get revenue and Limestone will save money.

The deal between the school systems was prompted by a budget shortfall in Limestone and the need to cut $225,000, Limestone Superintendent Paul Beaulieu said Tuesday.

He said Limestone approached SAD 1 for a proposal, which was approved by both school boards. As a result, he said, the Limestone School Department will save as much as $60,000 a year, the equivalent of about 1 mill of taxes, Beaulieu said.

Limestone has cut seven bus driver and custodian positions for next year, but those people will have the opportunity to reapply for those positions through SAD 1.

There was no concern in Limestone about a loss of local control, according to Beaulieu, who said officials in the two school systems have maintained what he said was “extensive communication” throughout the contract process.

“We’re in a position that we want this to work,” he said, noting that Limestone will retain ownership of its buses. “Local control was not an issue.”

The contract includes a clause that either system can pull out of the deal with 30 days notice to the other.

Last fall, SAD 1 opened a new bus garage that Bearden said was built with the understanding from the state Department of Education that it could be used as a regional transportation center for central Aroostook County school districts.

He said SAD 1 employs four full-time mechanics and there is room in the garage for 36 buses.

While district officials have had conversations with their counterparts in other districts about SAD 1 providing management services, “none has asked for a proposal,” Bearden said, adding that SAD 1 was “willing and able to take on that service if people want us to make a proposal.”