Eastport school board OKs budget with cuts

EASTPORT – Taxes are going up in this seaside community, but not as much as they could have.

It has been a gloomy budget season for Eastport officials after the state announced earlier this year that it was cutting more than $340,000 in state education subsidies to the school district.

That meant Superintendent Terry Lux, who has been on the job only about three months, had to find places to cut. Lux presented the proposed budget, with cuts, to the school board Tuesday night.

“This has been quite a process,” she said.

Lux said she worked closely with her high school and elementary school principals.

“We looked at what we were faced with and how we could do it without affecting people’s lives,” she said. “This is about serving kids, which is our No. 1 priority, and how can we do it on limited money now that we are facing this kind of a cut.”

Lux said she did not believe this was a one-time event. She said she anticipates there will be more cuts in school funding in the future.

“We have no idea what is ahead of us,” she said.

The proposed budget will be presented to the City Council at a workshop later this month. It goes before voters in an up-or-down vote on Tuesday, June 10.

As presented, the local share of the budget is $2.3 million, an increase of $129,050 over last year. That represents a 5.5 percent increase.

Lux said to mitigate some of the increases she imposed a hiring freeze earlier this year. In the past few months, one high school teacher and one elementary school teacher resigned, providing savings of more than $90,000.

But even so, there will be some personnel changes this year. Lux said some education technicians would lose their jobs. Because it is a personnel issue, she did not elaborate.

Lux said elementary Principal Tina Wormell and guidance counselor Leah McLeah offered to forgo their raises this year, which would help the budget.

After some discussion and an executive session to talk about changes in personnel, the school committee unanimously approved the proposed budget.

City Manager George “Bud” Finch said Wednesday that education accounts for about 62 percent of the city’s total budget.

On the municipal side of the budget, the proposed budget is $5.1 million, an increase of $23,273 from last year.

“While it would have been nice to not have any budget increase,” Finch said, “I believe holding a total budget increase to $23,273, or half of 1 percent, in these times is nothing less than spectacular.”

Finch also praised Lux and former superintendent Omar Norton for making the school budget work. Although there is an increase, he said, it is not what it could have been. Finch said he believed the city would still be able to provide quality education in the face of huge state cuts.

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