ELLSWORTH – The local school board has presented to the City Council a proposed budget that would require a $377,000 hike in city taxes, according to the superintendent.

The projected overall increase in the 2003-04 budget is $777,000, school Superintendent Jack Turcotte said Wednesday.

The anticipated increase in taxes for school costs is less than that, however, because the Ellsworth School Department has nearly $396,000 in unappropriated balance from the current school year that can be applied to next year’s budget, Turcotte said.

Despite the increase, Ellsworth’s education costs remain below the state average, Turcotte said.

“When we’re lower than the state average, we’re not out of control,” the superintendent said. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about here.”

The overall proposed 2003-04 budget for the school department, which includes five schools, is $11,438,182. The budget for the current year is $10,661,240, while the 2001-02 budget was $9,831,366.

The proposed budget indicates a higher hourly wage than the current budget for the school department’s support staff, but this is because of a new budgeting practice, not because of an actual pay increase, Turcotte said.

Instead of being paid regularly during the entire calendar year, support staff will be paid during the school year only, he said. The amount of money they will receive will remain the same.

There is one new position in the proposed budget, Turcotte said. The high school’s math department has shifted its focus recently to entry-level courses, and more help is needed with upper-level courses.

“We’re not very competitive, we don’t believe, at that upper level,” Turcotte said. “That [position] kept surfacing as an almost must.”

Turcotte said not included in the budget are two capital projects that would be funded out of reserve accounts. Roughly $30,000 is needed to resurface the high school’s latex-rubberized track, while $5,700 is needed to fix cracks in the high school’s asphalt tennis courts, he said.

The proposed school budget was presented to the City Council at a workshop meeting Monday. The council is expected to vote on the proposed school budget when it adopts the city’s overall 2003-04 budget in June.