Copyright Bangor Daily News
After turning down proposed 2025-26 budgets four times over the previous five months, voters in the Guilford-area school district approved a $9,491,905 spending plan at Tuesday’s referendum. The combined count across the six district communities that make up SAD 4 was 773-735. The vote, held on the same day as the state election, had more than double the turnout of the previous budget referendum vote last month when 620 ballots were cast. The nearly $9.5 million budget was approved in Guilford 229-157, in Sangerville 227-163 and in Wellington 36-33. It was voted down in Abbot 90-152, in Cambridge 70-80 and in Parkman 115-150. The Guilford-area school budget is one of the last school budgets to be approved in Maine this year as several schools faced multiple votes over the previous months. The fifth version of the SAD 4 budget is $9,231 less than the $9,501,135 figure voted down at the polls in mid-October via a 327-297 count across the six SAD 4 towns — the fourth time a proposed spending plan did not pass in the district. The figure of just over $9.5 million was down from the $9,531,320 brought to voters at the previous two referendums in September and July and was about $250,000 less than the first budget of $9,752,463 that appeared on the June ballot. The 2025-26 budget is up about 3% from the previous year, which had a budget of $9,247,391. Since mid-October, a $9,231 reduction was made in a field trip account, but the HUGS parent group may be able to make up much of this difference through its fundraising efforts so the money does not need to be part of the budget. To get down from the first June budget of over $9.75 million, reductions that were made include approximately $94,000 by eliminating the Learning for Life program, $72,000 by not filling an IT position after an employee left the district and $38,000 by removing assistant coaching positions that were set to be added in 2025-26. The approved budget of $9,491,905 has the combined towns’ local required share up to $2,982,900 for 2025-26, a $29,387 bump from last year. The budget also includes $1,828,959 in local additional monies. Each district community has its local required figure, an additional local amount and costs for the Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative. SAD 4’s proportional share of the four-district regional program is $53,256 of nearly $450,000. Four of the six district six towns would see an increased assessment in 2025-26. The total combined assessment is $4,865,115, which is down by $35,729 from 2024-25’s $4,900,844. Abbot would have a $675 decrease (0.07%) in its assessment to $936,866; Cambridge’s $342,908 proportional share of the SAD 4 budget is up $770 (0.23%); Guilford’s share is $1,291,789, down by $54,837 (4.07%); Parkman would have a $20,469 decrease (2.17%) to $923,465; Sangerville’s $1,104,242 share is up $41,271 (3.88%); and Wellington’s $267,632 assessment represents a $1,789 increase (0.67%) from 2024-25.
