SAD 48 slates districtwide vote on defeated budget

NEWPORT – It took SAD 48 directors fewer than 15 minutes to ratify the recommendations of its budget committee Tuesday night, setting a districtwide town meeting for 7 p.m. July 22 to take a second vote on the proposed $16.7 million budget.

Last week, 2,164 voters in the district’s six towns defeated the budget in a referendum vote by a 2-to-1 ratio. Nearly all among the small group of residents attending Tuesday’s board meeting favored proposing a smaller budget for a second vote.

The district presented a budget that represents a 15 percent increase, based on an $800,000 shortfall in revenue this year.

One Palmyra resident, Cindy Preble, was unhappy that the board opted for a districtwide format rather than a second referendum. “I think you’re a bunch of chickens, to be frank with you,” said Preble. “You’re afraid it will get voted down again.”

Preble was joined by several other SAD 48 residents who were frustrated that residents’ comments were accepted only at the opening of the meeting and not when the budget actually was discussed.

When public comment ceased, budget committee Chairman Robin Duplisea of Hartland quickly motioned to hold the district meeting on July 22 and to present the same budget that was defeated the first time.

“We developed a budget that represented what we believe we need. This year we felt we just couldn’t cut anymore,” said Duplisea. “We felt if we did, we would severely damage our fine educational system.”

The directors who opposed presenting the identical budget that failed were George and Linda Lougee of Newport, David Sharpe of Corinna and Dorothy Humphrey of Hartland.

Once that motion passed, Duplisea proposed sending bills to each of the six district towns to provide operating capital until a budget is passed.

Superintendent William Braun explained that school payments are due by state law on the 20th of each month. “We won’t be voting until the 22nd,” he said. “That will create a cash flow problem. The last presented budget, even though it did not pass, is the operating budget for the district until a new budget is in place.”

On Monday night, more than 100 people attended the budget committee meeting and spent more than three hours debating the failed budget, what budget figures should be resubmitted to voters and how that should be done, either through a referendum vote or a districtwide meeting.