Proposed SAD 3 spending plan up 10 percent

UNITY – The SAD 3 board worked hard to limit the growth of its proposed 2007-2008 operating budget, but a one-time bond associated with the $40 million new school now under construction pushed the increase to 10.3 percent.

The school board and Superintendent Barbara Rado Mosseau presented the $16.7 million budget proposal at a public hearing on Wednesday night. Voters in the 11 district towns will be asked to approve the spending plan when they go to the polls June 12.

In her letter included with the budget sent to district residents in May, Mosseau explained that the board initially arrived at a budget proposal of $15.8 million, a 3.8 percent increase over the 2006-2007 budget.

But district officials subsequently learned that they must pay about $900,000 in interest on a short-term bond that will allow SAD 3 to pay bills for the new school.

The bond allows the district to pay current bills on the project.

On Thursday, Mosseau said the bond principal will be repaid by state funds, and that the full construction cost of the school, which replaces the Mount View complex in Thorndike, will also be borne by the state.

Even with the one-time bond interest payments, the increase to local taxpayers is 1.6 percent over the 2006-2007 budget, according to the superintendent. SAD 3 will receive 15 percent more in state funds in the next year, she noted.

Increases in spending are tied to “fixed factors such as the costs of personnel and the increases in fuel as well as essential maintenance and repair items,” Mosseau wrote.

She reported that the district’s five-year strategic plan, approved by the board last year, guided administrators in preparing the budget.

Board Chairman Glenn Couturier in his letter included in the budget packet noted that increases were approved in literacy, technology and athletics, balanced by some cuts in staffing requests, stipend positions and other budget lines.

Couturier also wrote that SAD 3 was fortunate to have a $1 million surplus to apply to the 2007-2008 budget proposal to reduce taxes.

He also advocated approval of an article in the budget warrant that seeks to add $125,000 to a capital reserve account. Mosseau said the district set aside $50,000 for the account in 2004-2005, and $75,000 in 2006-2007.

Couturier’s letter noted the possible need to replace or repair the district’s central office in Unity. Mosseau said major work would likely be delayed until the administrative consolidation proposed by Gov. Baldacci is settled. The current version of that plan calls for SAD 3 to merge administration with SAD 34 in Belfast.

“We try very hard to seek the level of funding that meets the educational needs of our children, while trying not to break the backs of those who support them with their tax dollars,” Couturier wrote.

“The [2007-2008] budget represents a drive toward achieving the board-approved vision that can clearly begin to establish the district’s emphasis on 21st century skill development for our students,” Mosseau wrote in her budget letter.

Mosseau leaves the district at the end of the month. Her successor, Joseph Mattos, who was hired last week, begins on July 1.

Voting will be 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday, June 12, in municipal buildings in Brooks, Freedom, Jackson, Knox, Liberty, Monroe, Montville, Thorndike, Troy, Unity and Waldo.