SALEM TOWNSHIP — SAD 58 Superintendent Brenda Stevens told a gathering Thursday that the initial 2012-13 budget proposal has been cut from $10.1 million to $9.6 million.

The initial budget, she stressed, was not the “be all and end all” that some of the public had anticipated. The original proposal would have increased each town’s share more than 20 percent.

“We’d have to trim another $308,000 out of the budget to achieve a zero balance,” Stevens said. “I hope that frames the discussion we’re going to have tonight and the one we’re going to have the Tuesday after vacation.”

Stevens said the new budget represents a starkly reduced proposal, with 50 percent cuts in the district’s supply costs, maintenance, staff training and mileage.

The projected decreases in property tax rates, based on proposed reductions in the SAD 58 budget since February include:

* Avon: from 23 percent to 7 percent.

* Eustis: from 35 percent to 9.3 percent.

* Kingfield: from 24 percent to 13 percent.

* Phillips: from 22 percent to 6.6 percent.

* Strong: from 24 percent to 7.6 percent.

The small audience of staff members and a handful of representatives from the five towns made suggestions and asked directors to continue to keep the impact of taxes foremost in their minds.