SKOWHEGAN — Residents of the six towns in School Administrative District 54 will get a chance tonight to review plans to borrow $900,000 for health and safety concerns and to get final numbers on the proposed $32.3 million budget for the coming year.

A public hearing on the bond issue and an information meeting on the proposed budget for 2012-13 are set for 6 p.m. in the Middle School gymnasium. The regular meeting of the school board is scheduled to follow at 7 p.m. in the Middle School cafeteria.

The district budget meeting, when residents get to vote on spending lines, is set for May 29. District residents will vote on the borrowing plan June 12, the same day as the school budget validation question.

Taxpayers in each town will see varying degrees of property tax increases if the school budget passes as proposed. The owner of a $100,000 home in the district towns would see the following changes:

* Canaan: $48 increase

* Cornville: $63 increase

* Mercer: $31.40 increase

* Norridgewock: $51.88 increase

* Skowhegan: $23.62 increase

* Smithfield: $38 increase

Darrell Mitchell, the district’s financial and facilities manager, said the $900,000 borrowing plan is meant to cover long-needed paving at several of the schools and the replacement of windows and door locks as a safety measure.

“In some cases, the windows and door locks are original equipment — sixty years old,” Mitchell said. “Some doors are hard to lock and need to be replaced and fixing the windows is no longer an option.”

He said the locks on doors between classrooms also are an issue. In the event of an emergency, such as an ordered lock down, the classrooms as they are now would not be secure, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the driveway and parking areas at Bloomfield Elementary School are broken and “choppy.” The road coming into the high school is in need of repair as are the front and the rear areas at the Margaret Chase Smith Elementary School and paving work needs to be to finished at the Canaan Elementary School.

The total proposed budget for the coming year, which begins July 1 is $32.33 million, up 4.3 percent, or about $1.3 million, from the current year’s, Superintendent Brent Colbry said.

Spending from taxation for the coming school year in the district will be up $469,063, despite an increase of about $853,000 in state funding. The state contribution will be $17.37 million, which is increasing largely because of increased special education costs, Colbry said. The current state subsidy is $16.52 million.

There also is a projected 4 percent increase in insurance premiums and a 2 percent increase in pay for all district employees, including Colbry and other administrators.

He said the salaries for eight teachers again will be paid for locally because of an end to federal stimulus funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Colbry said five staff positions will be reduced or eliminated across the district in the proposed budget, including the position of principal at North Elementary School.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com