SAD15
Draft Budget for 04/05 would raise local school taxes
by 16.9%
By Janet Neal
If the current version of the proposed school budget
for SAD #15 were to be accepted, local school taxes
payable entirely by Gray and New Gloucester property
owners would increase by 16.9%. The increase in local
tax is due to a combination of two basic factors:
first, there are several actual increases in the budget
itself, and, second, revenue from the state and outside
tuition is dropping.
The current budget proposal by SAD15 administrators,
draft dated 2/10, would total $17,480,971. This is
an increase of $1,173,775 over the current year 03/04,
a 7.2% jump in the budget. But because the state is
not increasing its aid to SAD15, the entire budget
increase, and more, will be borne at the local level
by property taxes.
In fact, the state is actually decreasing its aid
to SAD15. Tuition and other revenue sources are down
as well, leaving a projected shortfall of $273,135.
This amount must also be covered completely by local
property taxes in Gray and New Gloucester. Therefore,
the local school taxes for the two towns would be
$10,008,918, an increase of $1,446,910. This is a
16.9% increase over the current local school tax of
$8,562,008.
If the towns' total property values stayed flat, then
the school tax rate would rise by 16.9%. With growth
in a town's total value, more people share the load
and the impact is lessened somewhat. Based on preliminary
budget work and valuation estimates from both towns,
the Gray education mil rate would be 10.46 ($1,046
for each $100,000 valuation) and the New Gloucester
education mil rate would be 14.07 ($1,407 for each
$100,000 of valuation).
The calculations for New Gloucester are based on the
previous property values. When the new valuation takes
effect, the mil rate will be adjusted downward accordingly.
Superintendent Victoria Burns cautioned that these
numbers are merely a draft proposal as of March 9
2004, and therefore subject to change.
