PITTSFIELD -- The School Administrative District 53 Board of Directors approved a budget Tuesday that will increase more than $100,000 next year, if unchanged by voters.

Despite shaving $462,000 in expenditures from the 2007-08 budget, a combination of decreased state funding, higher property valuations and declining enrollment means an extra $102,000 will have to be raised in local taxes, said Superintendent Michael Gallagher.

More than $3.3 million of the $10.3 million budget will be raised locally, Gallagher said. That represents a 3.19 percent increase over the 2007-08 budget.

"State appropriations are $410,000 less than they were the previous year," he said.

While Pittsfield would shoulder the lions share of the budget increase -- the town's assessment would rise by $75,311, or 3.75 percent -- Detroit, which saw its valuation increase by more than 16 percent, would take the biggest hit: a jump of $31,748, or 8.06 percent.

Burnham's assessment would actually drop by more than $4,500, or 0.58 percent.

Residents typically would vote the budget up or down, but this year, due to new rules associated with the state's consolidation effort, there will be a two-step process for approving the budget.

The first step is a May 7 budget meeting during which residents may accept the budget as presented or vote to increase or decrease funding, Gallagher said. The second step will take place on May 12 when voters will either accept or reject the budget finalized at the May 7 meeting.

While school funding is down across the state due to lawmakers' efforts to cut spending, SAD 53 also will see less money next year due to decreased enrollment and rising property valuations, both of which figure into the state's education funding formula.

"It was a perfect storm," Gallagher said.

Enrollment at the high school fell by 15 students this year. That is on the heels of losing 48 students during the 2006-07 school year, which the state used to help determine funding levels for next year.

"During the year we lost a lot of kids," Gallagher said. "There have been other years it has dipped significantly, but never like this. This was a real precipitous fall."

District officials expected 80 kindergartners to register this year, but only 52 enrolled. All other classes have at least 70 students.

"This year, we were surprised by the number of kindergartners that registered," Gallagher said.

There were other complications in the five-month budget process as well, Gallagher said.

Earlier this year, the state announced plans to cut the Insured Value Factor program, which allows private schools that accept public students to charge the district an extra 10 percent of the overall student tuition rate.

In the case of Maine Central Institute, a private school that also serves as the SAD 53 high school, cutting the program represented a near $300,000 loss.

But the Legislature partially restored the program by allowing private schools to bill 5 percent of overall tuition.

The state only agreed to fund 2 percent, however, leaving districts to raise the other 3 percent locally, Gallagher said.

For SAD 53 that meant an unexpected bill of more than $80,000.

MCI softened the blow, however, by agreeing to bill the district at 3.5 percent, which cut the local portion to $45,000.

While SAD 53 is planning for a merger with SAD 59 (Madison), Gallagher stressed next year's budget is just for SAD 53. Any savings realized by the state-mandated consolidation will begin with the 2009-10 budget.

Residents are expected to vote on consolidating the two districts on June 10.

The SAD 53 board was committed to completing the budget process in time for a May vote that was completely separate from the consolidation issue.

"I don't think people would have really understood what they were voting on," Gallagher said.

"It's too confusing."

Craig Crosby -- 487-3288

ccrosby@centralmaine.com