After reduced plan fails, MSAD 58 board of directors sends full budget back to voters

By Ben Hanstein of The Maine Monitor Voters rejected the trimmed proposal by 51 votes and will now consider the district’s original $13.2 million budget. SALEM — The Maine School Administrative District 58 board of directors voted Thursday to send the proposed $13.2 million budget back to voters after residents rejected a reduced spending plan June 9. The board has not scheduled the next districtwide budget meeting, but Superintendent Laura Columbia said she expects directors to set a date in mid‑ to late July. Whatever voters approve at that meeting will then go to the four towns for a second validation referendum. At the initial budget meeting May 18, slightly more than 50 voters approved $472,000 in cuts across six cost centers, most by margins of 10 to 15 votes. Voters also rejected funding for two reserve accounts and reduced the transfer to capital reserves, eliminating another $500,000 in proposed transfers. The resulting $12.7 million budget would have increased spending by $195,000, or 1.56 percent, over the current fiscal year. Columbia told the board on May 21 that the reductions would affect staffing because they exceeded what the district could cover through reserves and supply lines. Residents narrowly rejected the reduced budget set at the May 18 meeting, by a combined vote of 525 in favor and 576 opposed. It passed in one town, Strong, by a vote of 187 in favor and 178 opposed. It was rejected in the other three: Avon, with 54 in favor and 62 opposed; Kingfield, with 152 in favor and 178 opposed; and Phillips, with 132 in favor and 158 opposed. That vote sends the budget back to the board. At its June 11 meeting, the board voted overwhelmingly to send the original $13.2 million budget back to the voters. “This is what the board agreed was the best budget,” Columbia wrote Monday in an email. “They discussed the feedback they have heard from the community, and from the public comments at the last few board meetings.” Columbia said the board also reviewed the potential impact of the reductions. The reductions cut a gifted and talented teaching position, removed the proposed principal position at Phillips Elementary School, and eliminated funding for bus purchases and several projects. The board voted 12-1 to resubmit the original budget. Director Susan Pratt of Strong opposed the motion, and Vice Chair Joanne Bachelder was absent. The proposed $13.2 million budget increases spending by $667,000, or 5.32 percent, from the current fiscal year. It would raise the district’s overall assessment by 6.13 percent. Specifically, it would increase Avon’s assessment to $693,000, up $27,426 or 4.12 percent; Kingfield’s to $2.3 million, up $81,467 or 3.67 percent; Phillips’ to $1.4 million, up $125,792 or 9.77 percent; and Strong’s to $1.4 million, up $103,291 or 7.74 percent. Columbia said the warrant for the next budget meeting is also expected to include articles to transfer $500,000 from the fund balance into three reserves: $100,000 each for newly created special education and technology accounts, and $300,000 for the capital reserve. The board is scheduled to meet again Thursday, when it is expected to approve a timeline for the next budget meeting and validation vote. Last year, after voters initially rejected the budget at the polls June 10, the final validation vote took place Aug. 5, when a reduced budget was approved. The district will operate on this year’s current $12.6 million budget when the new fiscal year begins July 1, until voters approve a new spending plan. The board is expected to discuss ways to offer voters an optional exit poll at the validation referendum. That conversation continues a discussion that began at the May 21 meeting, when directors said more community feedback would help them interpret referendum results. At its June 11 meeting, the board voted to conduct an exit poll. Columbia said samples from other districts will be reviewed at the next meeting. This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from The Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.