NEWPORT — Residents at a public hearing on a proposed $24.76 million budget told the School Board in no uncertain terms it must find some cuts and substantially reduce the projected school tax rate increase.
As proposed, the budget would be a 12% increase from this year, would add $4.05 per $1,000 of assessed valuation to the school rate, bringing it to $18.92 per $1,000, SAU 43 Business Administrator Kate O’Connor said.
The effect would be to increase annual school taxes on a $250,000 property by a little more than $1,000.
“This is never going to pass,” Ken Merrow, chairman of the Budget Advisory Committee, said at last Thursday’s hearing. “Don’t even put it out there.”
Merrow told the board it needs to show some restraint and make cuts before the Jan. 31 deliberative session.
Health insurance, salary increases and new special education teachers are the main drivers of the increase, O’Connor told about 25 residents in attendance at the hearing.
Health insurance increases have the largest impact on the budget. The increase is 22% but with more teachers enrolled in the insurance, the cost is actually projected to be 44% more than this year, O’Connor said in her presentation on the budget.
“There is almost a $1.1 million increase in just health insurance,” O’Connor said.
Other areas of increase include a 4.5% salary bump for teachers, approved last March, and four new special education teachers that had to be hired this year but were not in the budget, O’Connor said.
Merrow said the school budget is a “cyclical mess” that comes back every year. He predicted that if the board does not reduce the budget, someone at the deliberative session, possibly himself, will move to cut the amount below the default budget of $23.8 million.
“We need to exercise some fiscal restraint,” Merrow continued. “I challenge the School Board to scrap what you got; put out a number you think is palatable.”
The board would need to cut about $900,000 to get the budget to a tax increase equal to the default budget, O’Connor said.
Resident Scott Stanton, a teacher in the district, said he understands both taxpayers’ concerns and the desire to provide what is best for the students. He agreed with Merrow.
“I don’t think this number is realistic,” Stanton said, adding that many residents are retired or on fixed incomes.
“I know it is not your problem,” Stanton said about insufficient state funding, “but you have to make do with what you have. I suggest the board come back with a number that is reasonable.”
Superintendent Forrest Ransdell said he proposed some cuts to the board but it has not acted on them.
“You have not reached the level of reduction necessary,” Ransdell said. “I agree more needs to be done.”
The board will meet again Thursday at 5:30 p.m. to finalize a budget for the deliberative session, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. on Jan. 31 in the high school gym.
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.