Budget validation referendum

What does the term “budget validation referendum” mean to you? If you live in Clifton, Eddington or Holden, you should know that by adopting this referendum, it might cost you more in taxes to operate School Administrative District 63. As a citizen of these towns, on June 10, you will be asked to decide whether or not to adopt the budget validation referendum process.

I am submitting this commentary in order to highlight the requirements of the law and clarify why the SAD 63 board of directors are opposed to its adoption. References to the state law for this commentary are contained in MRSA-20A Section-1305A and 1305B.

Under our current procedure, the board of directors is required to annually submit to the citizens of the district a warrant that contains the articles for the operational budget of SAD 63. These years’ proposed budget is the result of thorough review by the budget committee and staff. After the board of directors approves the budget, a district-wide annual budget meeting is held in which the proposed budget articles may be adopted as submitted or the funding levels may be raised or lowered. At this meeting, the merits of each article are questioned and debated with a majority vote required to pass any article.

If the budget validation referendum process is passed, the district will still conduct an annual budget meeting and pass a budget. Then three working days after the annual budget meeting, each of the towns will be required to conduct a referendum asking; “Shall the SAD 63 budget for the school year (date) that was adopted at the district budget meeting on (date) be approved? Yes or No.”

If the referendum question is passed, no further action is needed and the budget is adopted. If the referendum does not pass, the budget is returned to the board of directors and the budget subcommittee for revision. At this point, the whole process described above will start again; cumulating with another referendum being held three working days from the most recent budget adoption. This process repeats itself until the referendum is passed. According estimates provided by the towns, each time a referendum is held the cost would be a total of $2539.58.

Additionally, for the budget validation referendum process to be adopted, the “Cost Center Alternative Budget Format” must also be adopted. This budgeting method breaks down the expenditures and revenue items in a much different format than what the district currently uses. This budgeting format change will necessitate the SAD 63 central office to keep a second set of financial records just to satisfy the requirement of the law and to present to the public at the annual budget meeting.

The new format will mean that the budget information provided to the public will be less detailed than currently provided. Currently, we provide detailed information of three major revenue categories and sixteen expenditure categories and covering over 210 individual line items.

This action is not “mandated” i.e., required under the law. It is an option that is allowed under the law. Additionally, the voters of the district will not gain any authority that they do not already have. As stated above, those who attend the annual budget meeting have the full authority to approve or amend the proposed budget. If adopted, this process encourages voters to vote the bottom line without consideration of the implications for the educational system of SAD 63.

The citizens on the board of directors serve SAD 63 with a sense of civic duty and pride even though they are formally elected to represent each town. Each director devotes a considerable amount of time conducting the districts business. Adding more work will discourage current directors from seeking re-election and certainly will not assist in recruiting new candidates for vacancies on the board.

In summary, the reason the board of directors refused to put this issue on the ballot was because we felt that:

It is a waste of taxpayers’ time and money keeping a second set of financial records.

The towns will waste money conducting the actual referendum(s).

It is very possible that there will be a significant number of citizens voting who are uninformed about the resources needed to educate the children of SAD 63.

There are workable solutions to the citizens concerns without creating a whole new set of requirements.

The SAD 63 board of directors urges the citizens of Clifton, Eddington and Holden to vote no on the budget validation referendum question on June 10.

Don Varnum of Holden is serving his second year as chairman of the board of directors for SAD 63.