FARMINGTON — Regional School Unit 9 directors voted Monday night to set a proposed budget of $33.63 million to go before voters in a districtwide budget meeting in September.

It is the school board’s third attempt to get a budget passed for 2017-18.

The spending plan represents an $887,984, or 2.71 percent, increase from last year.

The districtwide vote will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 5 at the Bjorn Auditorium at Mt. Blue Campus. Whatever budget is set there will go to a referendum Sept. 12 in each of the 10 district towns.

Directors cut $292,414 from the $33.9 million budget proposal that failed during a referendum Aug. 3, Superintendent Tom Ward said Tuesday.

The administration recommended the reductions, he said Tuesday. The proposal also decreases the 10 towns’ projected tax assessments.

The board eliminated $165,431 that targeted reducing borrowing for a $317,834 capital improvement bond voters approved in June. The money had to be included in the budget as an expense and a revenue.

That money was part of the $729,954 in additional state funds the district learned in July that it would receive.

In July, the board voted to use $378,165 to reduce tax assessments, a little more than half of the money. 

Under the new proposal, more of the funds will be used to reduce the projected tax assessments. It represents an overall 2.06 percent decrease in the assessments, he said. 

Also eliminated from the budget was a half-time American Sign Language position voters added and approved on July 25. The half-time position would have created a full-time position because the district already has a half-time ASL teacher. The program at Mt. Blue High School will continue as a half-time offering to students.

The board eliminated one-and-a-half general education social worker positions in the budget but kept a half-time position. With the addition of part-time, it will turn a part-time position to full-time to serve students in regular education program at Mt. Blue Middle School. This will increase the guidance professionals to two full-time positions – one social worker and one guidance counselor.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net

Tom Ward