Caribou and Stockholm residents voted overwhelmingly to advance the second iteration of RSU 39’s fiscal year 2026 budget to a July 8 referendum.
A crowd of more than 50 gathered Tuesday at the Caribou Performing Arts Center for a special budget meeting.
Voters shot down the district’s initial $24.95 million budget in a June 10 referendum. The total was a $1.5 million increase over the previous year, with more than $284,000 falling on taxpayers to cover. The school board recommended a new budget on June 23 that cut $60,000 and would reduce residents’ tax burden to $227,143.
If passed on July 8, it will be the third straight annual budget to rise by more than 5 percent, increases officials said were in part spurred by inflation and the end of COVID-19 relief funding.
Last year, taxpayers were forced to shoulder an additional $1 million. But thanks to more than $1 million in state subsidy increases, this year’s tax impact was reduced to a fraction of previous years, helping the district get back on track.
“In my opinion, the RSU has been really kind and decent to the taxpayers,” district business manager Mark Bouchard said during the meeting. “We only ask for what we really need.”
Superintendent Jane McCall went through the proposed budget line by line, discussing each increase and decrease. Some of the biggest single-line increases included the purchase of a service vehicle with a plow to make it easier for facilities workers to clear parking lots after snowstorms and a partial roof and tile replacement at Caribou High School.
Part of Maine’s 2024 supplemental budget that went into effect Tuesday will cause a notable salary increase in the district, McCall said. The provision mandates that educational technicians must be paid 125 percent of minimum wage and support staff 115 percent of minimum wage.
RSU 39 has 34 ed techs, McCall said.
The new budget includes $7.67 million for regular instruction, $3.16 million for special education, $2.26 million for career and technical education, $693,451 for other instruction, $1.98 million for student and staff support, $898,664 for system administration, $837,848 for school administration, $1.15 million for transportation and buses and $2.73 million for facilities maintenance. Debt service accounts for $3.4 million and other expenditures total $113,117.
Following the budget presentation, residents voted in favor of each of the 11 expense articles with no discussion. Four or five voters opposed each article, including Caribou resident Jennia Morrell, who said the district was “making excuses” for its increases.
“The increase is ridiculous,” Morrell said. “When you look where the increases are coming from, it’s all salaries, it has nothing to do with our kids.”
The second referendum will be held on July 8 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Caribou Wellness Center and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Stockholm Town Office.
