Voters of Southport, Boothbay Harbor, Boothbay, Edgecomb and Georgetown passed the Alternative Organizational Structure (AOS) 98 budget Jan. 23.  Though not the shortest meeting ever, the 15-article warrant was passed within 14 minutes.

Article 1 authorized expenditure of $175,990 for special education and Article 2 authorized $438,932 for system administration. Articles 3-11 were taken as one vote due to no expenditures. Superintendent Keith Laser explained the categories must appear as such in school budgets even if an AOS does not have those expenditures.

Voters passed Article 12, $614,922 for a full summarized budget with total proposed assessments of $582,922; Article 13, transfer of $5,000 from undesignated funds to capital reserve funds for central office repairs; Article 14, expenditure of funds received from federal, state or other programs not requiring expenditure of funds; and Article 15, expenditure of $20,000 in undesignated funds, increasing the overall budget to $633,457.