HODGDON, Maine — The majority of registered voters from several small Aroostook County towns said “No” last week to MSAD 70’s proposed $7.9 million school budget for next year.
A 338-to-180 referendum vote has forced school officials to begin building a new budget that residents of Amity, Haynesville, Hodgdon, Linneus, Ludlow and New Limerick can financially accept.
To do that, Superintendent Tyler Putnam said positions will have to be cut, although specific staff reductions have not been decided yet.
After more than a decade of flat budgets with minimal or no increases, the Hodgdon school district’s $740,702 increase was too much for locals already struggling with rising costs and in the weeks leading up to last week’s vote, several people were pushing for its rejection on social media sites like Facebook.
Last year, the district’s $7.2 million budget passed with an increase of $53,130 over the previous year and an additional local ask of $159,125, according to Putnam.
“I believe there are community members that believed this was too large of an increase for the taxpayers and are looking for the board to approve something less before it goes back to the referendum vote,” Putnam said.
Three other Aroostook County school districts have also rejected proposed budgets this year, including Caribou-based RSU 39, the Madawaska School Department and MSAD 27, which is made up of Fort Kent, Wallagrass, New Canada, St. Francis and St. John.
The total allocation for MSAD 70 towns, with the exception of Haynesville, increased significantly, keeping pace with rising state valuations of towns. The local required share is based on town valuations.
Amity’s total allocation — required local and additional local — is $163,495, $25,378 more than last year; Haynesville’s allocation is $113,216, $5,149 less than last year; Hodgdon is $713,013, $115,924 more than last year; Linneus is $811,878, $115,924 more than last year; Ludlow is $274,998, $48,639 more than last year; and New Limerick is $1.2 million, $385,987 more than last year.
Initially, the school board approved a fiscal year 2025-2026 district budget with a $981,541 increase on May 5. But according to Putnam, school officials listened to resident concerns and decreased that number by $250,843, to $740,702. But voters were hoping for a larger dent in the budget he said, although they have not specified how much.
Putnam said he hopes to have a new draft of a budget for a board vote in a few weeks, he said, adding that there will be a second referendum vote on the new approved budget.
