BRIDPORT — Bridport residents will return to the polls this Tuesday, May 4, to cast votes on a proposed 2010-2011 elementary school budget that is $6,158 leaner than the spending plan that was defeated by less than 10 votes on Town Meeting Day.
Voters rejected the original spending plan of $1,336,975 by a 179-172 tally. It proved to be one of the few school budget defeats in the state but was the second year in a row that Bridport residents had rejected their elementary spending plan.
School directors took another look at the budget on March 23 and found $6,158 in savings. Those savings are derived from a reduced health care premium ($2,158) and reduced professional development expenses ($4,000).
The original Bridport Central School budget represented a 0.93 percent spending increase compared to this year’s spending plan. The new budget of $1,330,817 amounts to a 0.46-percent boost compared to this year.
Officials noted the budget proposal includes an interest payment of $18,712 associated with last year’s voter-approved school construction bond. Absent that debt obligation, the budget plan would represent a 1-percent decrease compared to this year.
If passed, the new budget — combined with Bridport’s obligations under the already passed UD-3 middle and high school budget — would result in a 2.19-percent increase in the town’s K-12 homestead education property tax rate. That would translate into the smallest education property tax increase among the seven ACSU towns this year, according to district figures.
Local school directors, in an April 13 community letter, urged voters to attend an informational meeting on the budget scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday, May 3, at the school. Australian ballot voting will take place the next day, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Bridport Masonic Hall.
Reporter John Flowers is at [email protected]