SALEM — Voters at the Maine School Administrative District 58 budget meeting Monday evening cut $472,000 from proposed spending and rejected setting aside another $500,000 for reserve accounts.
The MSAD 58 board of directors entered the meeting with a proposed $13.2 million budget, up $667,000, or 5.32 percent, from the current fiscal year. The plan would have raised the district assessment by 6.13 percent.
After Superintendent Laura Columbia’s presentation, voters spent more than two hours debating the proposal. They approved many cost centers at reduced amounts, and several articles required secret ballots.
If voters ratify the budget in the districtwide referendum June 9, the $12,736,847 spending plan approved Monday would represent a $195,000, or 1.56 percent, increase over the current fiscal year.
After moderator Ken Lexier was sworn in, voters immediately moved to reduce the budget, starting with a $50,000 cut to the $3.36 million regular instruction cost center, which covers teacher salaries, benefits and supplies. Some voters questioned the size of the budget given the district’s declining enrollment.
“Each year that we’ve been here, we’ve reduced staffing positions, bus drivers, custodians, teachers, so forth,” Columbia said.
She said the district was not seeking to eliminate positions this year but was looking closely at consolidating schools. The board plans to review an architect’s proposal at its next meeting, she noted.
“Our numbers are going down,” Columbia said, “and our buildings still cost money to maintain.”
The motion to approve the reduced regular instruction line passed, 32 in favor and 22 opposed.
Most other articles saw similar margins, with results typically within three or four votes of those totals.
Voters reduced most of the cost centers that make up the budget. Facilities maintenance saw the largest cut at $200,000, followed by special instruction at $80,000; regular instruction at $50,000; system administration at $47,000; school administration at $45,000; transportation at $30,000; and student and staff support at $20,000.
The reductions accounted for the bulk of the $472,000 trimmed from the board’s original proposal.
Voters did not adjust the district’s debt service allocation, funding for extracurricular activities or the adult education budget. A catch‑all category titled “all other expenditures” also remained intact at $106,548. The district’s career and technical education line, which the board had recommended at zero dollars, was left unchanged.
The board had cited salary and benefit increases, the need to replace three buses and higher fuel and other operational costs as drivers of the proposed increase. The plan also restored a principal position at Phillips Elementary School, or PES, and added a gifted and talented program teacher.
Some of the costs, including the buses and the teaching position, would be reimbursable in future years.
School administration costs, recommended by the board at $886,000, included funds for a full‑time principal at Phillips Elementary School, which is currently overseen by a dean of students.
Andrew Bracy, a member of the Strong Select Board, moved a $45,000 reduction to that cost center, in part due to that addition.
Board Chair Jessica Cain of Phillips said the board had tried sharing principals between schools and it had not been successful.
“When there were problems going on, the principals always seemed to be in the wrong school at the wrong time,” Cain said. “It’s putting our kids in jeopardy and possibly causing them harm for the fact that there could be an issue that goes on and there not being an administrator there.”
Columbia noted that there had been a dean of students rather than a principal at PES because the district had expected to close a school, and the arrangement was never intended as a long‑term solution.
Transportation costs also drew discussion, as those in attendance questioned whether the district needed new buses.
“Our fleet is aging and unpredictable with some of our buses,” Columbia said.
The largest cut came at the expense of facilities maintenance, which was reduced by $200,000 from the board‑recommended $1.89 million.
“What’s the rationale (for the reduction), since we know the schools need a lot of work?” Cain asked.
“Well, in the past few years you haven’t spent much of it,” Strong Select Board Chair Rupert Pratt said. “So I think it’s time we cut it back.”
Voters also reduced several proposed transfers into reserve accounts, which could then be used at the discretion of the board. The district had requested the authority to transfer up to $800,000 from the fund balance into the capital reserve; voters approved a transfer of $500,000 instead.
The board had also proposed creating four specialized reserve accounts — special education, technology, insurance and fuel — and requested transferring an additional $100,000 from the fund balance into each.
Voters approved the creation of all four funds but transferred $0 into the special education and technology reserves. Funding the insurance and fuel reserves at $100,000 passed by a hand count.
The district had recommended earmarking the reserve funding as a hedge against unexpected or unpredictable costs and to promote long‑term financial stability. Some voters argued that the district’s fund balance should be used to reduce taxes. The district plans to use $400,000 for that purpose.
Other voters pointed out that, given the district’s uncertain future, funding reserve accounts was not a wise choice. Withdrawal committees in Strong and Kingfield have been negotiating with MSAD 58 on plans to leave the district. Phillips also has a withdrawal committee, though it is running somewhat behind the other two towns.
The proposed $12.7 million budget is scheduled to go to referendum June 9. Voting is set for all four towns from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. A “yes” vote approves the action taken at the meeting and sets the budget. A “no” vote rejects it, sending it back to the board.
The MSAD 58 board of directors’ next regularly scheduled meeting is set for Thursday, May 21.
