FREEPORT – Residents of all three Regional School Unit 5 towns will gather at Freeport High School on Wednesday, May 28, to consider each of the 11 articles that comprise a $27,331,990 budget proposal for 2014-2015.

The spending plan, approved by the board of directors on May 14, represents an overall increase of 5 percent from this year’s budget, and hits hardest Durham and Pownal residents, who never have approved an RSU 5 budget in the five-year history of the school unit. Residents of Freeport, which is negotiating withdrawal from RSU 5, might again have to carry the day if the budget is to pass.

Even if Freeport residents vote for withdrawal in November, RSU 5 still has one more year as an entity.

Those who attend the May 28 budget meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m., will get a crack at each article, and will be allowed to amend each article. On June 10, residents will vote on the finished product in the budget referendum, at polling places in the three towns.

The $27,331,990 package amounts to approximately $140,000 more than the original proposal put forth by Superintendent Shannon Welsh. Kelly Wentworth, the RSU 5 finance director, said during the May 14 board meeting that increases in insurance rates, the costs at Region Ten Technical High School in Brunswick and in testing costs amounted to most of that difference. The board did reduce an English position at Freeport High School to defray that increase, she said. Welsh said Monday that the board had considered adding an English teacher, but decided against it when it saw a slight decrease in enrollment.

RSU 5 residents passed a $25,938,313 budget last June by a vote of 2,414-1,716, thanks to 3-to-1 approval in Freeport. The budget was opposed 701-399 in Durham and 395-182 in Pownal.

Durham would pay 6.64 percent more for the cost of education if the budget passes as is. Pownal residents would pay 6.08 percent more, and the increase in Freeport would be 3.49 percent.

Welsh has said that the normal budget increase from year to year is between 2 and 3 percent.

Of the $1,393,677 proposed increase, $400,000 of that already is settled. It will pay for increases for teachers’ salaries, decided two months ago, when the board settled negotiations with the local teachers’ union. Both Welsh and board Chairman Nelson Larkins say that the pay hikes, which round out to 3.75 percent, are necessary to keep RSU 5 competitive with surrounding communities in attracting teachers.

RSU 5 wants to add a literary strategist, a position that was dropped last year, and a math position.

Increases are called for in educational technician hours, amounting to $194,342.

There would be an increase of $456,372 in the cost of special education, to cover a new teaching position and an additional resource room at Freeport High School.

An additional $393,658 is called for in capital expenses. That includes adding $193,000 in reserve funds to repave the access road to Freeport Middle School, and audio/visual upgrades. Two new leased buses would cost $43,658 while $33,000 would pay for a new field maintenance tractor; and $30,000 would go toward a new Pownal Elementary School roof.

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