CARIBOU, Maine — Residents of RSU 39 in Caribou, Limestone, and Stockholm will be able to vote on a roughly $17.4 million school budget at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 31, in the Caribou Middle School cafeteria. If the 2017-18 budget is approved then, it will go to a district wide referendum vote on June 13.
The proposed budget is down nearly $700,000 or 3.86 percent from last year, resulting in minor savings for the three RSU communities.
RSU 39 Business Manager Mark Bouchard and Superintendent Tim Doak said the budget provides a minor tax reduction for RSU 39 towns, despite the school system initially facing a deficit of $1.4 million from last year. That looming deficit was the result of an $800,000 cut in state funding and about $600,000 in cost increases for employee contracts, benefits, and Maine State Retirement.
The $1.4 million gap was met in part by closing Hilltop Elementary School for the 2017-18 year and sending students to Teague Park Elementary School and Caribou Middle School, which saved roughly $410,000. The district also saved $600,000 by transferring Limestone’s High School students to Caribou.
The remainder of the gap was not only met, but exceeded, after one part time and sixteen full time positions were cut, and the school unit made roughly $949,000 in additional revenue due to outside tuition increases, administrative services provided to other school districts, and increased bank interest earnings after switching to Katahdin Trust.
Superintendent Doak, in the draft budget’s introductory message, writes about RSU 39’s efforts to decrease the overall budget:
“I am pleased to present my proposed school budget for the Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 School System,” Doak wrote. “The proposed budget represents a small decrease in local taxes. The expenditure budget as proposed stands at $17,391,023, a decrease of $697,363 or 3.86 percent from last year’s [fiscal year] 17 budget. This decrease will reduce our communities’ mill rate by .03 from 9.65 to 9.62.”
