Advisory #7
Below is the candidacy announcement from Mary Cyr for the Member-at-Large seat on the Sanborn Regional School District Budget Committee, where she will continue to represent both Kingston and Newton when elected.
NKTA reviews candidates who make themselves available to serve. We encourage you to support Mary. She is by far the best qualifed Newton candidate to further our mission: to restrain costs and property tax growth, while supporting needed academic improvements at the schools.
If you care about controlling property taxes with improving education, the two things that most affect our property values, consider voting for him on March 12, 8:00 AM – 8:00 PM, and encourage others to do so.
Absentee ballots are available through town hall.
NKTA has worked to restrain tax growth over the past 5 years. The rate of property tax increase is lessened, and much more needs to be done.
Mary Cyr – candidacy announcement, 2019
I am seeking re-election to the Sanborn Regional School District Budget Committee as its at-large member. This is a three-year term, which will be decided by the voters of both Newton and Kingston on March 12.
I have been honored to serve in this capacity through the two most recent budget cycles, working to present budgets that direct adequate resources to fund education for our community’s children, while being mindful of the taxpayers’ ability to support increasing expenditures.
Last year, the Committee asked for and received detailed, line-item budget requests from School Administrators, which resulted in the delivery of a flat, needs-based budget ($35,148,007 FY 2018). That figure was just 0.6% higher than the previous year and was resoundingly embraced at the First Deliberative Session, before being subsequently approved at the polls by the voters of both towns.
This disciplined approach continued with development of the FY 2019 budget, which will come before voters March 12.The new budget is lean, but a mandated increase in the cost of Special Education, inflation (especially the increased cost of healthcare benefits), and the urgent need to address critical technology issues, coupled with a reduction in revenues due to decreased student enrollment, has resulted in the 2.11% budget increase proposed for the coming fiscal year. Once again, the $35,887,933 budget was supported by Administrators, the School Board, and the Budget Committee.
I am proud to have been a part of this collaborative and disciplined effort by all stakeholders to better understand the funding needed for the delivery of quality education in our District, and to have prepared budgets that support the associated costs. I would welcome the opportunity to continue to help SAU17 meet the needs of our community while curbing unrestrained budget growth over the next three years so that other priorities may finally be addressed including; regularly passing teacher and support staff contracts, expanding early intervention, enhancing professional development and improving curriculum. Finding the right balance is not easy, but I am ready and willing to do my part to continue to contribute to this process.
My voting record can be viewed at the SAU 17 website, under the SRSD Budget Committee Past Meeting Minutes tab:http://www.sau17.org/Content2/116
You may also email questions concerning my experience and qualifications to: MCyr (at) sau17.net
If re-elected, I will continue to ensure that limited resources will target actual needs, where funding will be most effective to support student learning and District initiatives. I hope I can count on your support, and you can trust that I will continue to be an objective voice of reason to help move our District forward.
Sincerely,
Mary Cyr
Kingston