YARMOUTH — Residents of Yarmouth and Freeport will be voting on the towns’ respective school budgets on June 9.

Yarmouth residents will vote on a school budget of $22 million, which was approved Tuesday by Town Meeting.

The School Committee budget has an increase of almost $844,000 from the current year, or 3.98 percent. If approved by voters, it would result in about $800,000 in additional property taxes, or a 4.56 percent increase.

Rising health-insurance costs account for a large portion of the proposed budget increase. The district will see a 15 percent increase – almost $388,000 – because many staff members are switching to different levels of the plan.

Another large increase in the budget comes from salary increases of 2.5 percent, or almost $337,000.

Voting in Yarmouth will be held June 9 from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. at the AMVETS Hall on North Road.

Also at June 2 Town Meeting, all 28 articles funding the school and municipal budgets were approved, and only one failed to receive unanimous support.

The decision to appropriate $250,000 to establish quiet zones at railroad crossings was opposed by about a dozen people, including Councilor Randall Bates.

No one at the meeting chose to comment on or discuss any of the articles.

RSU 5

The Regional School Unit 5 Board of Directors on May 27 approved a budget of more than $29.4 million for Freeport, Pownal and Durham.

The increase of $2.1 million, or 7.77 percent, would result in $1.4 million in additional property taxes in Freeport, or a 7.57 percent increase. Taxpayers would see an increase to $1.02 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Taxpayers in Durham would see an increase of 8.71 percent, to $1.45 per $1,000 of assessed value. In Pownal, there would be an increase of 8.58 percent, to $2.96 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Much of the increase comes from increases in salaries and benefits for existing employees, as well as the creation of new positions.

Voting in Freeport on June 9 will be held from 7 a.m.-8 p.m. in the gym at Freeport High School.

Kate Gardner can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 125 or kgardner@theforecaster.net. Follow her on Twitter: @katevgardner.

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