“We’re doing our mid-year review in about a week, and we usually start discussing next year’s budget right after that,” Ventresco said. “We follow a pretty standard process where we have department heads present their estimates to the board and budget committee, and that’s followed by a series of meetings which occur from May up until the town meeting.”
While no specific date has been set for the initial budget talks, Ventresco says they will likely start between late January and early February.
In addition to gearing up for the 2018 budget, the town of Limestone is still searching for a new financial institution to take the place of Katahdin Trust.
Ventresco says the town has not yet received word from Katahdin Trust, which announced their decision to close the Limestone branch in late 2016, about whether or not the town could utilize the building.
“We are trying diligently to get another bank or financial institution to come into town,” Ventresco said. “That is one of the major things we will be working on this year. It doesn’t necessarily need to be in that building, since there are other possibilities in town, but getting a new financial institution in town is definitely a key priority for us.”
Though most of Limestone’s important meetings are set to take place this summer, the town is gearing up for the special Tuesday, Feb. 7 referendum, in which all towns in RSU 39 (which also includes Caribou and Stockholm) will decide if Caribou should build a $45,464,963 preK-8 school to replace several existing structures.
