STRONG — The RSU 58 board this week began deciding which programs, staff and extracurricular activities should be cut and which should be saved in order to keep the budget at $9 million for 2014-15.
Business Manager Luci Milewski on Thursday provided directors with a line-by-line overview of last year’s costs, comparing them with anticipated expenses in the coming fiscal year.
“You might want to see the total budget before you make any decisions or changes,” she said.
Since the board doubled in size last fall, the 2014-15 school board reimbursements and stipends were expected to double. Directors agreed to eliminate their $10,000 stipends for mileage and telephone calls and cut their $20-per-meeting reimbursement in half.
Parents expressed disappointment and frustration with the board’s earlier proposal to cut the late bus that leaves the high school at 4:30 p.m. each day.
Phillips director Faith Richard said she couldn’t go to the local grocery store without parents stopping her to share their concerns.
Other directors agreed they did not want to see students driving home on the rural roads in bad weather after tutoring sessions, extracurricular activities and academic study.
Students who stay after school may have many other reasons that have nothing to do with athletics, Principal Marco Aliberti said. They have little extra time for all of their academic requirements, so staying after school is the only option for many of them, he said.
“Students meet with SAD 9 Adult Ed tutors, and they also have college readiness sessions,” he said.
Directors agreed to add money for the bus and driver back into the budget.
Directors also decided to make changes to the music program. The district offers an orchestra at the middle school level. Directors agreed to continue that instruction at the high school level but declined to make the part-time music instructor’s position full time.
Strong director and Budget Committee member Rupert Pratt reminded others that last year’s initial proposal presented for public approval was cut significantly. Taking money out of one cost center but adding more to another was not going to keep taxpayers happy, he said.
“We’ve been looking at ways to save money,” he said. “We’ve tried to be frugal.”
Milewski said the 2014 unassigned fund balance, the 2014 unexpanded funds from the local budget, the 2014 unanticipated revenues and the unspent balance of any prior year’s designated funds creates an unassigned fund balance, she said.
The board decided to borrow nearly $200,000 from unassigned funds against $314,000 in anticipated funds next year, but Milewski made a strong recommendation against doing so. The current unassigned fund balance of $265,156 is alarmingly low, she said, and there’s no guarantee that money coming into the district will cover another year of borrowing from that fund.
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