For the first time in years, voters in the district have twice rejected the RSU 29 school budget, leaving school officials wondering what exactly it is the community wants.
At the June primaries, a total of 768 people cast ballots (15 percent), which resulted in the $12.9 million spending plan failing by a vote of 318 in favor and 450 opposed.
In a relatively short manner, the school board came up with $150,000 in cuts to the budget, which brought the budget down to $12.75 million. Cutting that amount removed the need for any additional local funds, which board members felt was the overriding reason for it failing at the polls.
Included in that plan was the removal of an assistant principal position (which was a new position at Houlton Elementary School next year), at a savings of $72,000; eliminating a plan to lease modular classrooms ($48,312); cutting $15,615 from the Houlton Southside School After-School Program; and cutting $15,000 from the heating oil account.
However, at the polls July 15, the new budget failed yet again. This time around only 261 voters cast ballots on the $12.75 million budget, which failed by a vote of 123 in favor, 138 opposed. There are about 5,125 registered voters in the communities of Houlton, Littleton, Monticello and Hammond, so therefore only 5 percent of those registered bothered to cast a ballot.
Until a new budget is passed, the district will operate under the 2013-14 spending plan.
RSU 29 Superintendent Mike Hammer stated to the newspaper that he plans to put forth the exact same budget when the board gathers, stating he was not comfortable making any more cuts to the spending plan.
The district has trimmed its budget so that it is now at what the state says is the level for “Essential Programs and Services (EPS)” and any further cuts to the budget would result in lost revenue from the state.
Board chairman Fred Grant has stated any additional cuts to the budget would result in a dollar-for-dollar loss from the state. What that means is the district would have to cut $2 from its budget to save $1 in taxes because the state will reduce how much money it gives the district if it goes below EPS.
RSU 29 will receive $9,240,465 from the state next year, which is an increase of $423,224 over the previous year. The required local share, which is the amount the district must raise to receive those state funds, is $3,192,008 (an increase of $84,164).
Determining why a budget fails is tricky business. Some may have voted no because they feel the budget is still too high or that staff members should not be given raises during these difficult economic times. Both are valid concerns.
Or perhaps a person voted “no” because they felt something was cut that should not have been, which is another legitimate gripe. Others may have voted it down because of the district’s decision to close Wellington Elementary School or they dislike the plan to move third grade from Houlton Elementary School to Southside School and send the sixth-graders to Houlton High School.
Still others simply vote “no” on everything and there is not much anyone can do about those individuals.
Those who have issues on what or where the district is spending money have a chance to make changes if they attend the district budget meeting Thursday, Aug. 14 at 6 p.m. in the high school auditorium. Sadly, even fewer people have attended these prior sessions, with about 30 individuals (including the school board) attending.
Simply waiting and voting “no” on the budget gives no direction to the board for what the public wants.
Joseph Cyr is a staff writer for the Houlton Pioneer Times. His opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect that of the newspaper. He can be reached at pioneertimes@nepublish.com or 532-2281.
