HOULTON, Maine — The RSU 29 school board will soon be hashing out a new budget for the 2022-23 school year.
Superintendent Richard Lyons presented the school board with a time table for budget discussions that will feature something new for the district — an open public forum for people to ask questions about the budget.
“I would like us to hold a public forum a week before the budget meeting,” Lyons said. “Basically, we will invite the public in and have a ‘Q and A’ about what is in the budget and what is not in the budget.”
He hosted similar budget forums at his previous positions, he said.
The district budget meeting will be held Tuesday, May 17, at the high school. The date for the public forum was not established during Monday night’s meeting, but will be sometime in the vicinity of May 10-12.
RSU 29 is one of the few school districts in Aroostook County that does not require a referendum vote for its school budget. In 2019, voters in Houlton, Hammond, Littleton and Monticello approved a plan to do away with the referendum vote of the school budget at the polls for a three-year period.
The only way the district can switch back to doing referendum votes on its budget is if a petition signed by 10 percent or more of voters is submitted, or if the school board decides it wants to revert back to that method of adopting its budget.
Last year’s RSU 29 budget came in at $15,344,683, which was an increase of 1.23 percent over the previous year.
This article has been updated to reflect the district will not have to hold a referendum on its budget.
