OXFORD — The SAD 17 Board of Directors approved a $35.9 million budget Monday, a 2.23 percent increase from the 2012-13 budget.
The budget is about $783,000 more than last year’s. New expenditures include $419,000 for the district’s share of teacher retirement, $350,000 in negotiated salary increases and $438,000 in health insurance increases.
Superintendent Rick Colpitts presented the budget to the board before the vote. The budget was presented at four preliminary hearings, with a total attendance of 27 people, Colpitts said.
There will be some cuts. One educational technician position will be cut, as will $15,000 in secretary costs. Colpitts said the positions that will be cut haven’t been identified.
Colpitts said the Oxford Hills School District will receive $55,000 more from the state than was anticipated. That extra money will go to the contingency fund. He said the total in state funding is still unknown.
“What happens when it gets to the Legislature and then to the governor, we don’t know,” Colpitts said. He said the budget is based on the governor’s proposed budget. “If there’s more money allocated as a result, the money will carry over to support taxpayers in the next fiscal year.”
If the school gets less state funding than anticipated, the district will have to go back and make adjustments to the budget.
Every town in the district will see an increase in its local assessment, ranging from a 4.22 percent increase in Waterford to a 10.35 percent increase in Otisfield.
The budget is set for a public hearing June 6. The eight district towns will vote on it June 11.
treaves@sunjournal.com
Note: A previous version of this story gave incorrect figures for the percentage and amount of the increase over last year’s budget. The figures have been corrected. It was a reporting error.
Increase in school costs for SAD 17 for 2013-14
Harrison: 4.58 percent
Hebron: 5.83 percent
Norway: 4.48 percent
Otisfield: 10.35 percent
Oxford: 7.75 percent
Paris: 9.70 percent
Waterford: 4.22 percent
West Paris: 5.19 percent
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