CARIBOU, Maine — The Caribou City Council voted to hold a special meeting on the morning of June 24 to approve RSU 39’s (Caribou and Stockholm) budget validation referendum for the July 14 election.
While this authorization was initially set for June 15, some councilors were concerned that the school’s total budget was not mentioned in the accompanying documentation and said they would prefer to wait until residents approve the budget during the school’s June 23 meeting, prior to signing off on the referendum.
The RSU 39 Board of Education unanimously approved its budget on June 3, in the amount of $19,814,703. While the budget is up by $89,115 from last year, school officials said because of changes to community valuations, it will not require more tax dollars than last year’s budget.
School officials also worked to cut $2 million from the budget in order to not burden taxpayers with any increases amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the budget goes to the July 14 referendum, however, it needs to pass through a district budget meeting in which residents vote on individual components of the budget, at which point the total dollar amount will be approved. That meeting is scheduled for June 23 at the Caribou Performing Arts Center at 6 p.m.
Councilor Doug Morrell said he was concerned that the school did not clearly state the budget amount in the included documentation for councilors to sign.
“I would like to see that in writing, and I think the people and the citizens have a right to know those numbers, prior to and in all corresponding documents after that, it should be present,” he said.
Mayor Mark Goughan asked if the language included in their documentation, which asks if voters favor approving the RSU 39 budget adopted at their budget meeting, but does not include a budget total, will specifically be presented to voters during election.
“Where this is part of the warrant for the election, I would say yes,” Marker said. “I think one of the reasons they don’t have a dollar amount in there yet is because they are still going to be having a budget meeting on June 23 in which they could potentially modify what’s been discussed in the budget, so they don’t have a final number to put in the warrant.”
The school board could have included a current total as opposed to not including any dollar amounts, Morrell said.
“If you put something in there as a placeholder so people know what’s coming, I think that’ll generate more interest,” he said. “I think it should state what their current budget is and what they’re begging the people for more money for.”
Councilor Thomas Ayer asked Marker if the council has a deadline for signing this warrant, adding that citizens may decide to cut money or add more money to the budget during the June 23 meeting and suggesting that council wait until this meeting is held.
Marker, after clarifying with City Clerk Jayne Farrin, said that while the warrant could be revisited and signed during the council’s next regular meeting on June 29, it may cause a delay with absentee ballots, which may not be turned around in time as a result.
Morrell agreed that the final numbers should be included and Ayer said he wouldn’t feel comfortable signing the document until the final numbers are available.
Goughan suggested holding a special meeting on the morning of June 24, the day after RSU 39 holds its district budget meeting.
The meeting is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. and will be broadcast via Cable Channel 1301 and the city’s official YouTube channel.
