The Brewer School Department’s new $29.1 million budget is just $495,000, or 1.7 percent, more than last year’s, mostly due to increases to staff salaries and benefits.
The Brewer School Committee preliminarily approved the new spending plan, which will support Brewer’s schools from Oct. 1, 2025, to Sept. 30, 2026, on Monday.
Personnel costs, which went up 3.9 percent from last year, make more than $19.7 million of the $29.1 million budget. The increases are tied to contractual bumps to staff salaries and benefits like health and dental insurance.
Those increases are counterbalanced by multiple staffing cuts, including a kindergarten teacher, a first grade teacher, a physical education instructor, a science teacher and a special education teacher. Those losses are tied to staff retirements or resignations due to “changes in their personal lives,” said Gregg Palmer, superintendent of the Brewer School Department.
“For staff who want to remain in Brewer we have found ways to manage openings so nobody will be without a position next year,” Palmer said.
The school department’s buildings and grounds section of the budget accounts for $2.7 million and jumped by slightly more than $79,000, or 3.1 percent, due to expected increases to staff salaries, health insurance and electricity fees. Those costs are offset by a $41,500 reduction in natural gas payments under a new contract.
The $1.3 million supplies and services budget, meanwhile, saw a roughly $25,000, or 2 percent, hike. The major drivers of that boost include a $31,000 increase to the department’s school resource officer allocation and a more than $20,000 rise in athletic program costs, such as team uniforms and weight room equipment.
Those costs are partially neutralized by moving the high school swim team to a local co-op, which would save the department nearly $27,000.
“As far as reductions are concerned, I believe we have managed them to substantially maintain programming while reducing in areas where we’ve seen a trend of lower student enrollment,” Palmer said. “In a challenging budget year, we feel fortunate given what some other districts are having to deal with.”
The school department also doesn’t have any proposed capital projects slated for next year, which is stark difference from the $250,000 the school department budgeted for capital improvements last year.
Brewer is also placing fewer students to other schools, which lead to a $87,200 reduction in out-of-district costs compared with last year.
The school department leaders will continue to tweak the budget until the school committee is asked to give it final approval during their May 5 meeting.
