Staff Writer

The residents of five communities of Maine School Administrative District No. 6 (SAD6) will have to decide whether they agree with an increase in the district’s budget when voting in May.

The $40.3 million budget was unanimously approved by the SAD6 Board of Directors at their Monday meeting. It represents a $1.4 million increase – 3.58 percent more than last year’s $38.9 million budget.

The state will contribute $19.3 million to the district this year, $394,000 less than it did last year. The budget passed Monday calls for $1.7 million more in additional local contributions.

The budget now heads to a public meeting on May 8, where it faces debate on its six pieces, and may be altered by a majority vote of those in attendance. The bottom line of the budget approved on May 8 will then be voted on at another public hearing scheduled for May 13.

If the proposed SAD6 budget is approved by voters, the town of Standish will contribute $8.19 million to this year’s budget, an increase of $684,000 over what the town paid last year, when it paid $7.5 million. Standish will pay 42 percent of the district’s share of budget allocation. 

Buxton will contribute $5.17 million, an increase of $288,000 over what the town paid last year, when it paid $4.88 million. Buxton will pay 27 percent of the district’s total.

Hollis will contribute $2.854 million, an increase of $76,000 over what the town paid last year, when it paid. $2.788 million. Hollis will pay 15.5 percent of the district’s total.

Limington will contribute $1.98 million, an increase of $148,000 over what the town paid last year, when it paid $1.83 million. Limington will pay 10 percent of the district’s total.

Frye Island will contribute $1.1 million, an increase of nearly $200,000 over what the town paid last year, when it paid $906,000. Frye Island will pay 5 percent of the district’s total.

 “It’s a good budget and a lot of thought and time has been put into making it good. But I don’t think it will pass. I think the total is too high to get past those two hoops,” board member Shawn Cram said, referring to the upcoming votes in May.

Superintendent Suzanne Lukas said she understood SAD6 communities would not welcome higher taxes, but reductions in state allocations to the district meant further cuts to the budget could come at a high cost to the quality of education in the district.

“I don’t want to tax the people of this district any further – I understand how hard it is out there for folks right now. But I think we’re at the point where trimming this budget will require looking at cutting programs and services,” Lukas said.

 “The state is making drastic cuts which are killing us,” board member Michael Delcourt said. “It makes no sense to me that they are cutting transportation allocations when fuel is the most expensive it’s ever been. They’re killing us.”

The budget was created based on estimates of state subsidies provided by the governor’s office. Exact figures for the state subsidy of SAD6 will not be available until the state passes its own budget. A settlement on the budget in Augusta is expected in coming weeks, but any delay could hinder the voting process on the local budget.

 “This budget is what you feel is what you need for the upcoming year, and I commend you for fighting for these kids,” Delcourt said during Monday night’s meeting. “But with gas over $3 a gallon, and foreclosures across the state, it seems this is a huge increase for the towns. This is going to cost our towns a lot, but we have a good school district, and I’m going to vote for the budget the way it is and let the townspeople tell us it’s too much. But if we want to have a good school system, this is what it takes. We need to convince the townspeople – people need to know where we’re at.”

David Hopkins, a board member from Standish, said his home town was in a difficult position.

“The town of Standish cannot afford a nearly $700,000 increase,” Hopkins said. “But what do we do? What we’re doing in the district works. We can’t make any significant cuts to the budget without doing drastic damage to education in this district.”

Hopkins, along with the board’s 13 other members, ultimately all voted in favor of the budget in a roll-call vote.

Board member Teresa Whyte called on her fellow board members and the district for innovative solutions as a means of combating the increasing costs of education to the five communities of SAD6.

“We need to come up with incredible new ideas to hedge these costs,” Whyte said. “We need to think about increasing the length of the school day, of reducing the number of total school days so we don’t have to heat our buildings in December of January. There’s been a lot of blame thrown around, but in the end it’s going to take everybody coming together and making serious changes if we want to survive this.”