FARMINGTON — RSU 9 residents voted Thursday to approve a $29.74 million school budget for 2013-14 and a $471,031 adult education budget.
The spending plans will now go to a validation vote Tuesday, June 11, at the polls in each of the 10 towns in the district.
About 100 voters attended Thursday’s meeting and voted on both budgets in less than an hour. The votes were nearly unanimous.
The $29.74 million budget reflects an increase of 2.9 percent, or $840,660, compared to the current budget. The package includes about $350,000 in teacher retirement costs Gov. Paul LePage proposes to shift from the state to school districts.
RSU 9 Superintendent Mike Cormier said he had hoped those costs would be eliminated by the Legislature but what he is hearing from Augusta is that the school districts may own them.
This budget will go a long way to helping the district meet a new law that will require it to pay 100 percent of its required share of the state’s essential programs and services by 2016-17 in order to get its full share of education money from the state.
For every $1 the district does not raise that was required, it would lose $2, Cormier said.
The change would start in 2014-15. That year, districts would have to make up 33 percent of their EPS gap, and 66 percent the next year.
Cormier gave insight into each of the 17 articles addressed Thursday night.
All of the schools — except for Cushing School in Wilton — will have an alternative energy source once a new pellet boiler is installed at Cascade Brook School in Farmington. Besides heating that school, the boiler will also heat the middle school and the district bus garage on Learning Lane.
When it came time to vote on the $29.74 million budget, Farmington selectmen Chairman Ryan Morgan said he would vote against it.
The increase to Farmington will 75 cents per $1,000 of property valuation, he said. With jobs scarce and getting scarcer, he said, a lot of people in town are struggling to pay their bills.
“My vote will be ‘no’ on the increase,” he said.
He thanked the School Board for all the work they have put in.
Fay Adams, chairwoman of the New Vineyard Board of Selectmen, agreed with Morgan.
“We would love to fund this. I feel we cannot because we cannot afford it,” she said. “I think we need to turn this budget down and take a few shears to it.”
When it came time to vote on the $471,031 adult education budget, with $236,983 the local share, Cormier said about $100,000 of it would be to move the program to the Mt. Blue High School campus. The district pays $30,000 a year for rent and starting next year the state will not support it.
The plan is to take some of the portable classrooms and refurbish them to serve the program, he said. Adults will have access to the high school and the Foster Regional Applied Career and Technical Education Center during the day at the campus.
The move will pay for itself in less than a year, Cormier said.
Cormier also said there may be some additional money coming to school districts from the state. An article approved Tuesday would allow the School Board to use the money to lower the tax assessments, he said.
Voting times for RSU 9 towns on Tuesday, June 11
Chesterville: 1 to 6 p.m., Town Office
Farmington: noon to 5 p.m., Community Center
Industry: 2 to 8 p.m., Town Hall
New Sharon: 1 to 5 p.m., Town Office
New Vineyard: 2 to 6 p.m., Smith Hall
Starks: 2 to 8 p.m., Community Center
Temple: 5 to 10 a.m., Town Hall
Vienna: noon to 5 p.m., Fire Station
Weld: 4 to 8 p.m., Multi-purpose room at Town Office
Wilton: noon to 6 p.m., Town Office
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