RUMFORD – SAD 43 directors approved a $14.3 million budget Monday night that will go before voters next month.
They also agreed to place two articles on the warrant that call for establishing reserve accounts for technology and for capital improvements.
Voters will have their say at a districtwide meeting June 3, then decide whether to validate the budget figure at referendum on June 8.
If adopted by residents of the four SAD 43 towns, the operating budget for school year 2004-05 would be about 4.4 percent higher than the current figure.
However, Superintendent Jim Hodgkin said the tax liability for most district residents would decrease slightly because of higher state aid to education funds.
If approved, Byron residents would see a 3.2 percent increase, or $4,045, in its share of the overall budget. Mexico’s share would increase .08 percent, or $1,013; Roxbury’s share would decline by .35 percent, or $1,071; and Rumford, which pays the largest share of the school budget, would experience a .95 percent decrease, or $81,469.
For someone with a home valued at $50,000, that would translate into an additional $15.62 annually for residents of Byron and 64 cents for Mexico. Roxbury residents would see a decrease of $1.84 and Rumford homeowners would see a reduction of $6.36.
The school budget warrant includes 11 articles that break down the proposed budget into separate components, such as instruction, leadership, educational support, operations and transportation.
Two additional articles ask for approval to establish a technology reserve account of $425,000 and for a capital reserve account of $225,000.
Hodgkin said the funds, if approved, would come from the district’s carryover undesignated funds.
Money for the technology account would likely go toward the purchase of laptop computers for high school students if the state does not provide funds for the technology.
The capital reserve account funds would likely be used for renovating an as-yet unspecified building to house a district-run day treatment program for special needs students.
Mexico representative Betty Barrett noted the two proposed reserve accounts will not use newly appropriated money, but money that the district already has in undesignated funds.
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