FARMINGTON — RSU 9 Superintendent Mike Cormier told the school board Tuesday night that preliminary state figures show the district would receive $345,000 more in state subsidy.

“That’s the good news,” he said.

The bad news is that it’s going to cost the district $324,000 for Maine State Retirement if the governor’s proposal to shift a portion of the retirement expenses to local school districts is approved by the Legislature, he said.

The district has a choice of asking the taxpayers for more money or making significant cuts, Cormier said.

Regional School Unit 9 is waiting to receive notification of its state aid funding for the next school year. The state’s funding model, based primarily on enrollment and property values, determines how much money a school district gets. Local taxpayers are assessed for the remainder of the budget.

A status quo budget is being developed to share with the board’s budget subcommittee, Cormier said.

He said he had heard that the Legislature’s Education Committee is looking at changing the way it reimburses career and technical education and putting it on a formula basis.

“We are a relatively low-cost operation,” Cormier said of the Foster Regional Career and Technical Education Center.

He also told the board that the district’s valuation, calculated by the state, went up 1 percent. The overall state valuation for all communities within Maine went down 2 percent, he said.

That makes the district up 3 percent over state valuation, which means the state believes the district can pay more without increasing taxes, Cormier said.

Health insurance costs are still a concern, he said. They go beyond the current school staff to those who have retired, he said.

The Maine Education Association (a teachers’ union) is considering changing its method of charging for costs from a flat rate to a use rate, he said. A district that has a heavier use of health insurance would pay more while a system using less would pay less.

Cormier said RSU 9 likely would be a heavy user.

A Maine Education Association representative plans to meet in March with Cormier and other administrators, along with Doug Hodum, president of the district’s union, to go over health insurance costs.

In another budget matter, Leanne Condon, assistant superintendent/director of curriculum, said the state had approved the gifted and talented budget.

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