State aid, tight budget give SAD 43 towns a break.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – The SAD 43 board adopted a 2003-04 proposed budget Monday night that, if passed, will call for a slight reduction in school taxes for all four member towns.

An increase in state aid to education and development of a disciplined budget were the major reasons for the decrease, said Superintendent Danny Michaud. The district was granted nearly $327,000 more in general purpose state aid and several thousand more for the purchase of school buses.

Adopted was a budget of $13.69 million, about $40,000 more than the current year’s operating figure.

Although three elementary teaching positions were cut, they were offset by the addition of two teaching positions at the high school and middle school.

The major cost-cutting measures came with the elimination of about $300,000 in capital expenses. But the projects weren’t lost either, because the board voted to fund those, and more, by using carryover money from last year and to pay for them during the current year’s operating budget.

Experiencing the greatest reduction in school taxes was the town of Mexico. For a home valued at $50,000, school taxes will decrease by $46.38. For Rumford, that figure would be $36.15; for Roxbury, $31.29; and for Byron, $9.68. The total to be raised by local taxes comes in at $8.6 million.

Residents will vote on the budget at referendum during the June 10 primary election.

But for the first time, residents also will be voting at a districtwide, town meeting-style election a few days before the ballot vote.

Residents last year approved trying the new way of voting, becoming the first district in the state to do so.

“We’re the only district doing this.We’re blazing some new territory,” Michaud said.

And some of that newness may present problems, particularly in the timing of votes and submission of absentee ballots.

According to the new law passed by the Legislature two years ago, and optional for districts but adopted by SAD 43 residents, a town meeting-style vote must be held first. During that meeting, the costs for the various departments will be discussed and a total budget voted on. A ballot vote must then be cast within three working days, bringing that vote on June 10.

If voters at both the town meeting-style election and the ballot vote agree, then a new operating budget is adopted. If voters at the referendum turn down the districtwide vote, then the process must begin again and continue the two steps until a budget is adopted.

Absentee ballots will count only if they arrive within three days of the districtwide meeting vote, Michaud said.

Some kinks will have to be worked out on the public notification time and number of days required between votes, Michaud said, as well as the time required to print ballots. He said that on the positive side, the new way of laying out the costs for each segment of the education system that are voted on at the districtwide meeting does provide more detail than previous ways of voting on a school budget.

“This (process) is going to be an interesting proposition,” he said.