Voters in seven towns approve SAD 27 budget

FORT KENT – Voters in SAD 27 passed a nearly $11 million budget by a 3-to-1 ratio during a special referendum Monday, 237-76.

Residents of the seven towns making up SAD 27 faced a single-question ballot at the polls.

At a district meeting last week, voters acted on 19 articles that formed the proposed $10,845,368 budget plus the additional local share and adult education funding.

To fund the budget, the board requested a total of $2,161,827 be raised through taxes as part of the state and local funding allocation.

The board requested an additional $1,007,787 in local funds to help defray costs the state does not recognize as essential educational services, including special education, extra and co-curricular activities, and long-distance transportation.

The additional local funds also are targeted toward increased fuel costs and increased employee health and benefits costs.

“Some of the figures were hotly contested during that meeting,” district superintendent Patrick O’Neill said Tuesday afternoon. “But when it was put to a hand vote, it was approved.”

The overall budget represents a $376,783, or 12.4 percent, increase over last year and was approved in all seven towns – Eagle Lake, Fort Kent, New Canada, St. Francis, St. John Plantation, Wallagrass and Winterville Plantation.

This marked the first year the district budget was decided through referendum, a process that stems from state legislation aimed at education reorganization in Maine.

“We are still working the bugs out,” O’Neill said. “We plan on following up with the different towns to see if there was any confusion, [and] what needs to be done next year.”

The budget represents $81,000 in cuts, O’Neill said, mainly in the area of transportation.

“We are happy with what we have,” he said, adding that some paving projects at the district’s schools will have to be deferred. “As administrators we will have to stretch what we have,” O’Neill added.

The big unknown, the superintendent said, is fuel costs.

“We have not locked in yet for next year,” O’Neill said.

Rather, he said the board is gambling on information predicting fuel prices will drop for a period this fall.

“There are reports out of Washington the prices are going to come down,” O’Neill said. “Then they are supposed to quickly go back up. Those prices are the real fear we have now.”

jbayly@bangordailynews.net

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