BATH

Three out of four towns within Regional School Unit 1 will pay more if the district’s 2018-19 spending plan moves forward as proposed.

The public will get a chance to hear more at a 6 p.m. forum today at Bath Middle School.

A draft budget shows a 3.87 percent increase in expenditures, with a 2.64 percent increase anticipated in local contributions from the towns. The expenses for Arrowsic, Bath, Phippsburg and Woolwich are based on a cost-sharing agreement.

It works out well for Phippsburg, which is expected to see a 3.78 decrease in its local share, because of a likely 5.5 percent reduction of students from the town enrolled in the district.

Local contributions would increase for Arrowsic (0.99 percent), Bath (3.67 percent) and Woolwich (5.26 percent) if the budget is approved as proposed.

The district has been working on the budget since the end of last year.

“This started in December with a retreat with the board and the administrative team,” said RSU 1 Superintendent Patrick Manuel, “and then we’ve had meetings in January all the way up through March when we had two pretty full days with our finance committee.”

He said the goal was to keep an overall expenditure increase at less than 4 percent in the initial draft.

One reason for the increase is the addition of three positions. A shared assistant principal position between Bath Middle School and Woolwich Central School is being eliminated and replaced by a dean of student position for each school; an educational tech position is also being added at Woolwich.

Additionally, there are three ed tech positions added this year that aren’t reflected in the current budget, Manuel said, which show up as increases in the proposed budget.

“We just tried to balance what the communities can support with moving forward educationally,” said Manuel.

There is also a proposed increase in operations/maintenance, with an additional $123,000 in fuel costs.

Also, $70,000 is included to pay for non-state funded sections of a new high school under construction at the Wing Farm business park.

Enrollment will remain consistent, said Manuel, and the district expects to receive an additional $689,650 from its state subsidy.

“Some school districts lost money,” he noted. “We gained money.”

The budget process will continue during the next two months ahead of a June 12 vote.