BETHEL — Residents voted Tuesday evening to approve a $10.59 million budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year.
It is .63 percent, or $66,933 lower than the current budget, Superintendent David Murphy said.
A budget validation referendum will be held June 14 at polling stations in Bethel, Greenwood, Newry and Woodstock, Murphy said.
He added that an increase in state aid and the use of additional carryover funds will result in reductions of up to 5 percent to the local share in three of the district’s four towns.
Bethel, Greenwood and Newry will all see minor reductions in their share of the budget, while Woodstock will see an increase of $18,737, because of to an increase in its state valuation.
Many of the warrant articles saw significant decreases in the proposed amounts, including Article 1, which asked residents if they wished to authorize the district to expend $4.28 million for regular instruction.
The regular instruction cost includes the salaries and benefits for all K-12 regular instruction staff, K-12 retirement, unemployment, workers’ compensation, and FICA and Medicare expenses.
Murphy said the proposed regular instruction budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year is $103,880 less than the previous year.
“There’s not going to be any decrease in staffing due to the decrease,” Murphy said. “We have two elementary teaching positions that are moving from classroom positions to math coaching positions” in kindergarten through eighth grade.
He added that the salaries for each position are being covered by the TIF grant to the district.
“As a result, funding for both positions have been eliminated from the School Administrative District 44 budget, thus the reduction in the line,” Murphy said.
Near the end of the meeting, Murphy pointed out that the district had no long-lasting debt.
“You should be proud to be in a district that has no long-lasting debt,” he said.
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