FARMINGTON — RSU 9 directors voted Tuesday night to hold a districtwide budget vote on a proposed $29.74 million vote at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 6, at Mt. Blue High School.
They also voted to hold a referendum validation vote in each of the 10 district towns on Tuesday, June 11. The times will vary in each town. Voting on the referendum will have to be at least four hours long, Superintendent Mike Cormier said.
The board has been holding off on setting the voting dates, hoping that the Legislature would make a decision on the governor’s proposal to include Maine State Retirement costs for teachers in local school budgets.
Directors set the pre-kindergarten- through 12th-grade budget in April for 2013-14 at $29.74 million, including the retirement costs. The costs can be removed at the districtwide budget vote if the Legislature votes to eliminate them.
The way it stands, the spending package represents an $840,660 increase over the current budget. If the teacher retirement cost is removed, the proposed plan would be $29.43 million, $526,612 more than the current budget.
Directors agreed to have open articles at the districtwide meeting to allow voters to add or subtract money for each article on the warrant.
Voters will also consider a proposed $471,031 adult basic education and adult and continuing education budget for 2013-14. The plan represents an increase of $133,005 over the current budget. Of the amount, $100,000 is a one-time expense to move the adult education program to the Mt. Blue Campus, where the high school and career and technical education center is located. The district currently pays rent of $30,000 a year for space for the program.
Besides a validation vote on June 11, voters will have a second question to contend with. It asks them if they want to continue holding two budget meetings, including the referendum validation vote.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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- Jeannine Wells of Wilton, left, learns about Makinzi Whitney’s philanthropy project Tuesday night that she did as a school project as part of the Katahdin Community at the Mt. Blue Middle School in Farmington. Whitney volunteered for four days at the Franklin County Animal Shelter in Farmington. The seventh-grader of Wilton walked dogs, made toys for cats and cleaned cages. The students provided more than 2,000 hours of volunteer time in all for their projects.
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- Ben Christopher, far left, Marshall Doyon and Hunter Bolduc, seventh-graders at Mt. Blue Middle School, explained Tuesday night during a presentation on projects that their philanthropy project benefited the Care and Share Food Closet in Farmington. They held a benefit spaghetti supper and were able to donate $2,300 and more than 400 pounds of food to the closet. Students in the Katahdin Community at the school provided more than 2,000 volunteer hours during their philanthropy projects.
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