MECHANIC FALLS — Regional School Unit 16 officials held the first of their three community budget meetings, beginning with Tuesday’s meeting at Elm Street School.
RSU 16 officials will present the proposed budget again Wednesday, April 27, at Poland Community School and Thursday, April 28, at Minot Consolidated School. Both meetings will take place at 6 p.m.
The meetings’ main purpose is twofold:
• Provide information on the district’s proposed $20.8 million budget; and
• Determine whether Mechanic Falls residents believe the budget properly addresses their educational needs.
Not a question was asked and not a recommendation for change was offered by the handful of residents present for School Committee Chairwoman Mary Martin’s explanation of the process for developing the budget or Superintendent Tina Meserve’s presentation of the proposed budget as it stands.
Meserve speculated that this might have been a reaction to the fact that, as proposed, the budget was essentially flat, with Mechanic Falls residents eyeing a slight reduction in what the town will be assessed as its share.
According to Meserve’s estimates, Mechanic Falls’ assessment would be about $6,000 less than that of the current year.
This would result in taxes falling by about $6.73 on a Mechanic Falls property valued at $100,000, according to estimates.
In her presentation, Meserve noted that the proposed budget was about $206,000 higher than the current year’s, the effect of which was dampened by an increase in state aid.
She also pointed out that the proposed budget goes beyond merely maintaining programs and includes measures to address certain goals in the district’s strategic plan.
The proposed budget includes:
• Installing a modular classroom to relieve crowding at Whittier Middle School, which would free up space to better address special education needs;
• Continued efforts to develop and implement the math program at the district’s three elementary schools, with $20,000 dedicated for materials and $24,000 for staff training;
• Hiring an assistant cross-country coach, at $600, to help handle the large increase in the number of students interested in the program;
• Providing $1,700 to support the unified basketball program; and
• $15,000 to send the district’s sixth-graders to the Ferry Beach Ecology School program.
Taking comments from the three community meetings into consideration, the School Committee will meet Monday, May 9, to approve a budget. That budget will go to a districtwide hearing and vote on May 29, followed by a budget validation referendum on June 14.
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