Topsham-area voters approve $57.9 million school budget
Jun. 11—Voters passed a $57.88 million budget for the Topsham-based School Administrative District 75 Tuesday.
All four towns that contribute to the budget — Topsham, Harpswell, Bowdoin and Bowdoinham — voted in favor of the budget and voted to continue school budget referendums for another three years.
The fiscal year 2026 school budget reflects a 5.52% increase from the previous year, attributed to an increase in current services and additional resources, position additions and capital maintenance.
Under the new budget, Topsham contributes the most to the school district at more than $14.2 million, an 8.09% increase from the current fiscal year. Harpswell contributes $11.27 million, followed by Bowdoinham at $4.66 million and Bowdoin at $4.25 million. Taken together, local school assessments increased by $2.83 million, or 8.96%. The change was attributed to state property valuations and student enrollment.
Significant increases in costs this year included salary and benefit increases, health insurance premiums, software costs and rising property values, according to budget documents. New positions have also been added, including a social worker, a board-certified behavior analyst, two pre-kindergarten teachers and an elementary school teacher. Additionally, $50,000 has been set aside to purchase Yondr pouches for the middle and high schools to reduce cell phone use during school hours, and $20,000 will go toward an instructional AI platform for teaching and learning.
The budget also sets an allowance of $700,000 for capital projects, including replacing fire alarms at Woodside Elementary, roofing improvements at Williams-Cone Elementary, replacing carpeting and flooring at Mt. Ararat Middle School, and district-wide safety initiatives like lock and alarm improvements.
Reductions to the budget this year include eliminating unfilled positions, including four paraprofessionals, one bus aide, one mechanic apprentice and two transportation positions. Debt service costs have also decreased this year by roughly $60,500 as bonds continue to be paid down. The state subsidy increased by nearly $205,000 and is contributing to balancing the budget.
Copy the Story Link
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Unclear when reduced Sunday rail service will end
A rail service says it is unclear when it will stop a reduced Sunday service it has been running since late last year. Northern has been running fewer services in north-west England every Sunday since 22 December 2024, because it has not been able to find enough conductors to work those days. The firm's managing director Tricia Williams told a Transport for the North Meeting on Tuesday the reduced service was "not what we all want" but did offer customers "predictability". Northern said it was still negotiating with National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) over Sunday working. RMT confirmed discussions were ongoing. The firm has previously said the problem it faced on Sundays was it was contractually outside the working week for North West conductors. Affected services include routes from Barrow and Windermere to Manchester Airport, and from Barrow to Carlisle. Ms Williams said the reduced service currently relied on volunteers. "The success criteria for us is about achieving a truly seven-day railway," she said. She said the aim for the company was to ensure no more than 2% of services were being cancelled by the end of 2027 and that 90% of trains arrived within three minutes of schedule. RMT said it was conducting "detailed discussions with Northern Trains to bring together working practices for conductors from three legacy companies into a single, modern agreement". "The talks aim to ensure consistency, reflect advances in technology, and support reliable services throughout the week", a spokesperson said. Any proposals would be subject to government approval, they added. It follows Northern being issued a breach notice by the Department for Transport (DfT) in July 2024 for cancelling too many trains. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Send your story ideas to northeastandcumbria@ Trains face delays over Sunday workers shortage Northern pins reliability hopes on new trains Northern Transport for the North
Business Journals
8 hours ago
- Business Journals
New COO brings 30 years of leadership to growing private aviation firm
Story Highlights Fast-growing Airshare hires a COO. Suzanne Williams spent the past 10 years at BarkleyOKRP, most recently as COO and CFO. Airshare is a 2025 Champions of Business honoree. From the Kansas City Business Journal. Airshare has hired Suzanne Williams as its new COO. GET TO KNOW YOUR CITY Find Local Events Near You Connect with a community of local professionals. Explore All Events Airshare is one of the largest private aviation companies in the U.S., operating a fleet of more than 100 aircraft from coast to coast. Founded in 2000, the company offers aircraft management, fractional ownership, EMBARK jet cards and charter services. Airshare saw revenue growth of 26.9% from 2021 to 2023, reaching $210.15 million in revenue for 2023. Last year, it reported $371.8 million in revenue. Williams brings more than 30 years of experience to Airshare, where she started last month. She spent the past 10 years at BarkleyOKRP, most recently as COO and CFO. Before that, she spent 21 years in a wide variety of leadership positions at Sprint, mainly in auditing, but last worked as the vice president of planning and analysis. For the past year and a half, Williams has been a board member for Kansas City-based Centric Construction Inc. 'We are thrilled to hire someone as talented as Suzanne and anticipate her making an immediate impact in many areas of our business,' Airshare CEO John Owen said. 'This is a vital role within our growth plans; therefore, we spent considerable time making sure we found the right person. I'm confident she will be a tremendous asset for us.' At Airshare, Williams will lead the finance, legal, human resources and IT departments. She also will be a member of the executive leadership team, reporting to Owen, and joined Airshare's board. Airshare is a 2025 Champions of Business honoree. Although she doesn't have any experience in the aviation industry, Williams said said her role shares a lot of similarities to work she has done in the past. Both Airshare and BarkleyOKRP are people businesses, and that will translate pretty quickly. 'I was looking for a new challenge, and it just worked out this way,' she said. 'Airshare has a great reputation. They've done a lot of M&A on both the buy and sell side the last couple of years, so all that definitely gets me excited to be a part of the very experienced team Airshare has developed.' Williams said she spent her first week on a plane, visiting all of the Airshare hangars and facilities nationwide with the executive team and asking a million questions. 'I learned quite a bit, just being basically locked in a plane with them for three days,' Williams said. 'We had a one-day, off-site executive meeting to really talk about the company's priorities. Just getting to know John (Owen) and the lead team, and building those relationships, made a fantastic first week. That really carried into the next few weeks to help me get up the learning curve quicker. So it was a great way to start.'
Miami Herald
10 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Lottery player uses same series of numbers in NC — and it pays off in a big way
A man who consistently uses the same numbers in the North Carolina Education Lottery has finally seen his dedication pay off big time. On Thursday, June 5, the Carolina Cash 5 drawing's winning numbers were 5, 12, 19, 27 and 35, and that seemingly random set of digits made Antoine Williams a top-prize winner. The jackpot was $439,972, lottery officials said in a June 10 news release. Williams, who lives in Fayetteville, paid $1 for the ticket while playing online. No one appeared more surprised than Williams. 'It's breathtaking to think about. I'm still in shock,' he told lottery officials. His friends were also in disbelief, including a former union representative. 'She went nuts,' he said in the release. Why Williams clings to the same series of numbers was not revealed, but it helped him beat odds of 1 in 962,598, officials said. He picked up his money at lottery headquarters in Raleigh on June 9, and the prize was adjusted $315,680 after taxes. He plans to use his pot of money to buy a car, then invest in starting a logistics business, officials said. Carolina Cash 5 is a rolling jackpot game with a prize that grows bigger until someone picks the right set of numbers.
