PITTSFIELD -- A gathering of nearly 70 residents on Wednesday accepted a $10.3 million School Administrative District 53 without any changes.

"There were no changes made," Superintendent Michael Gallagher said. "The budget passed just as proposed by the board. That is good news. Now we just have to wait for the second step."

That second and final step is set for next week when residents in all three district communities (Burnham, Detroit and Pittsfield) will vote the budget up or down by secret ballot. Despite shaving $462,000 in expenditures, 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, Gallagher said.

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

That the budget survived Wednesday's district budget meeting intact was an important step. New rules associated with the state's consolidation effort force districts to enact a two-step process for public approval once a budget is finalized by the school board.

The first step, which occurred Wednesday, allows residents to change spending in any part of the budget.

While some districts have included that step in their budget process all along, it was a new procedure for SAD 53. The district always held a hearing on the budget before before a referendum vote, but residents were not given the opportunity to change the figures within the budget. The difference was evident in the number of people that showed up, Gallagher said.

"It was different from a hearing, which we never got anyone to," he said. "It really is a budget meeting where they get to vote on it. It passed with an overwhelmingly positive response."

The districtwide referendum is scheduled for Monday at the traditional polling places in each community. Voting will be from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Burnham and Detroit and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. in Pittsfield.

Craig Crosby -- 487-3288

ccrosby@centralmaine.com