SAD 17 facing $576k budget gap

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SAD 17 anticipates at least a 5 percent, $847,834 increase in local assessments in the next budget –  the effect on individual towns is shown above. To fill a projected $576,063 budget gap, however, the district is anticipating a 8.4 percent, $1,423,897 increase on local assessments, indicated below.

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OXFORD — SAD 17 is looking to cut $576,063 from its budget next year, even with a 5-percent increase in local assessments.

Superintendent Rick Colpitts and Finance Director Cathy Fanjoy-Coffey delivered an update on next year's projected budget to the SAD 17 Board of Directors Monday evening.

Colpitts told board members that they should expect frequent budget updates in the coming months.

"I don't know what our budget is going to be," Colpitts told board members. "But as the political climate changes, I thought you should be up to date."

According to the projection, the district's expenses are set to increase by around $1.05 million in the coming year.

Those increases include $360,000 for salaries, $127,000 for health insurance, $146,000 for technology and $150,000 to address the aging middle school portable classrooms. Fuel costs are also expected to increase. 

The most substantial increase is a $391,000 share of teacher's retirement fund the district is expected to raise under Governor Paul LePage's proposed 2014-2015 state budget.

Colpitts said the shift represents about half the cost to fund teachers' retirement. He worried that the budget's wording shifted retirement funding responsibility onto local districts, with state assistance, rather than keeping it a state obligation.

Projected expenses for 2013 are $36,219,303, while projected revenues are $35,643,540, leaving a $576,063 gap.

That number still includes a 5-percent increase in local assessments. In order to fill the gap, the district may need to raise 8.4 percent district-wide. In Paris and Otisfield, the increase would be more than 11 percent.

If the district wants to reach the required local share determined by the state's Essential Programs and Services model, it would need to raise assessments by 11 percent district-wide, Colpitts said.

Part of the issue is the district used some of its carry over from last year to address a drop-off in state funding curtailed to address a $35 million state revenue shortfall, Fanjoy-Coffey told the board.

That means the district has $118,619 less in carryover than it did last year.

Moreover, LePage's budget proposal maintains school funding at the curtailed limit, meaning SAD 17 can expect $216,000 less in state funding next year, Colpitts said.