ANSON — Residents in the local school district will consider a $10.58 million school budget Tuesday, a number that represents a 4.86% increase over the current budget.
The average increase in cost to local residents is 5.37%.
“I believe we’re bringing a very responsible school budget forward that meets the basic needs of the school district,” said Regional School Unit 74 Superintendent Mike Tracy on Monday. “I hope it passes tomorrow.”
RSU 74 includes Anson, Embden, New Portland and Solon. Polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday at the town offices in each town for voting on the budget.
The total $10,583,485 proposed budget, which already received initial approval from voters at an April 25 budget validation meeting, is up 4.86%, or $490,970 from the current $10,092,515.
The amount of money to be raised locally is up $293,721 and is collected from each town based on a combination of property valuation and enrollment numbers.
In Anson, the amount of money to be raised locally is up 8.7%; in Embden, 2.35%; in New Portland, 5.68%; and in Solon, 5%.
The biggest contributors to increases in the budget include a $50,000 decrease in the amount of state funding the district will receive next year, about $150,000 in increased special education costs and about $100,000 in increases for deferred maintenance and facilities.
In April the board of directors moved to reduce $103,000 from what was then a $10.6 million budget and also moved an additional $100,000 from reserves into the budget to help offset increases.
Since then, Tracy said the district has also added another $100,000 from reserves to reduce the local tax increase.
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