$10.8M RSU 68 budget set for June 13 referendum
DOVER-FOXCROFT — A proposed $10,817,189 RSU 68 budget for the 2017-18 academic year was approved at the annual district budget meeting on May 30 at the SeDoMoCha School. The spending package will now go to a referendum in the towns of Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson and Sebec on Tuesday, June 13 with residents of the four communities voting either “yes” or “no” to make a district-wide decision.
“We have been working on the budget since Sept. 1,” Superintendent Stacy Shorey said. She said RSU 68 officials worked under a guiding principle of being “committed to making transparent student-centered budget decisions.”
“We put together a budget that is fiscally responsible as well as meets the needs of the students we have in this district,” Shorey added.
The approximate $10.8 million figure approved at the district budget meeting, across the 21 articles by the dozen-plus voters in attendance with minimal discussion, represents an increase of about $302,100 from the current year’s budget. “The overall budget is up $302,103, which is a 2.78 percent increase from last year or a 1.93 percent increase to taxes,” Shorey said.
The proposed budget for 2017-18 is made up of nearly $5,537,900 in state contributions (an increase of a little more than $255,100 from the current year) and another $5,279,294 in local revenues with the four RSU 68 communities having a combined local assessment of just under $4,634,570. This figure — comprised of local contributions, additional local monies and funding for adult education — is up by about $87,900 from the 2016-17 figure of approximately $4,546,670.
The four total proposed assessments are $2,780,636 for Dover-Foxcroft, an increase of approximately $60,250; $660,670 for Sebec, about $44,875 more than in 2016-17; $628,518 for Charleston, a figure up by about $12,721 from the year before; and $564,744 for Monson, a decrease of $3,000-plus in the assessment for this town.
Full financial information is available on the RSU 68 home page at www.sedomocha.org.