Fuel, wages cited in budget hike for CSD 9 taxpayers

DYER BROOK ? Taxpayers in Community School District 9 will be asked to spend more local money for education this year, but Superintendent Terry Comeau said on Thursday he believes the financial picture could improve once the state funds the district at 100 percent of the Essential Programs and Services model.

The 2005-06 draft budget for CSD 9 is set at $3.9 million, Comeau explained. Of the seven towns in the district, Island Falls is slated to contribute the most money this year, with Merrill supplying the least amount of funding.

“The budget has increased $297,343 over last year, and the communities will be asked to pick up $236,249 of that,” Comeau said.

Comeau attributed the budget hike to factors many area superintendents are citing this year.

“The cost of fuel has increased, along with wages,” he said. “We also anticipate an increase in the textbook line item and for computers.”

CSD 9 will also hire a teacher for gifted students, finance a new school bus, and pay down a debt on a roof bond.

Despite the increase, the superintendent said on Thursday the district’s financial picture will be different once the school is fully funded under EPS. The new funding formula is designed to outline how much individual school districts should spend on educational programs to meet Maine Learning Results.

At this point, funding for EPS is only set at 84 percent for the fiscal year 2005-06. It’s slated to increase to 100 percent in 2009-10.

“Had the state funded us at 100 percent of EPS this year, it would have made a difference in our budget,” said Comeau. “Taxpayers would have received a significantly smaller local assessment. … We still would have needed to raise some money, but it would not have been as much.”

He added that expenditures will also drop once the district makes the final two payments on the roof bond. Comeau noted that CSD 9 received some additional money from the state this year as a transitional adjustment for enrollment. At this point, he is cautiously optimistic about what the future of the district could look like under EPS.

“[The model] is certainly not that friendly to smaller schools, but we might find out differently in the next few years as to how this is going to work,” he said. “The EPS number will eventually be at 100 percent, and we will get more money.”

Officials do not plan to hold a public hearing because they have been poorly attended in the last few years.

He met with each of the town managers in the district to explain the forecast and said he would meet with the individual towns to go over the figures if the residents request it.

The district budget meeting is set for June 20.