Salem — Citing uncertainty regarding cuts coming from the state, the Board of Finance voted unanimously Thursday to approve a 1.4 percent decrease in the budget for the Board of Education for the 2017-18 year.

The approved budget of $10,548,225 is $150,000 less than what the finance board approved for the school budget last year and almost $290,000 less than what the school board had proposed at the Thursday night meeting. The proposed $10,837,619 budget would have been a 1.3 percent increase over last year's spending plan.

George Householder, who serves as the clerk for the Board of Finance, proposed the final approved number. He said that he had mentioned in previous meetings that the school budget should take 50 percent of the cuts coming from the state because it makes up 75 percent of the town's budget.

With $700,000 in cuts slated for the town, the school budget then would absorb $350,000 of the cuts. The remaining 50 percent would be split between cuts to the rest of the town's budget and a tax increase.

He said that $350,000 off of last year's budget was "a bit extreme," so Thursday he suggested using money from the town's unassigned fund balance to bring it to a $150,000 cut.

Several members of the Board of Finance commended the Board of Education for its thorough presentation, which Chairman Mike Siebert said took more than 200 hours to put together. Siebert and members George Jackson and Sean Reith spent nearly an hour explaining several data sets to justify concerns such as low student/staff ratios, which had been brought up at last year's budget meeting.

All members of the school board, as well as the Salem School administration, attended the meeting to answer additional questions from the finance board. The meeting had an almost jovial tone, as members of both boards interspersed discussion of funding with jokes about whether they wore an appropriate tie for the meeting.

Once the Board of Education's presentation concluded, Board of Finance member Marshall Collins reminded everyone that budget cuts will be coming from the state, and the town's budget needs to account for that.

Members discussed what kind of tax increase the town would accept.

Hernan Salas said the 3-mill increase required to pass the school budget as proposed with the state cuts would never pass. Janet Griggs said the town also would decry the cuts required to get below a 1-mill increase.

The finance board unanimously approved Householder's motion after hesitation to second the motion and vote on it.

The school board has until March 23 to submit a new budget proposal. A town meeting to discuss the entire town budget will be held Wednesday, May 3, with a referendum on Wednesday, May 10.

a.hutchinson@theday.com