POLAND — The Regional School Unit 16 board of directors voted Monday night to keep the annual budget referendum in June.

Nine board members voted in favor of the June date and four voted against. Two representatives were absent.

The RSU 16 Personnel & Finance Subcommittee was seeking to change the date to April.

The decision to leave the date unchanged passed by a weighted vote of 559-302. RSU 16 includes Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland, and each town elects five directors to the district’s board. Each of Poland’s votes counts as 94 votes, each of Mechanic Falls’ as 57 votes and each of Minot’s votes as 50 votes.

At previous meetings with school representatives, Matt Garside and Vic Hodgkins, the town managers in Poland and Mechanic Falls, respectively, spoke against the proposed date change, saying two referendum elections would create additional administrative and financial burdens for the towns.

Garside and Hodgkins attended Monday night’s board meeting, as did Danielle Loring, the town administrator in Minot.

Members of the Poland Board of Selectpersons and Minot Board of Selectmen and town councilors from Mechanic Falls were also in attendance.

The appointed and elected municipal leaders from RSU 16’s three communities signed and addressed letters to the district’s board requesting the date remain in June.

Mechanic Falls has been holding its municipal elections by referendum in June for more than 10 years, while Poland has revised its charter and will now hold its voting in June. Minot holds an in-person town meeting in March.

Garside told the RSU 16 board Monday night that a vote on the budget in April would likely be determined by a smaller pool of voters than in June.

Hodgkins, meanwhile, said changing the date to April could negatively impact the schools.

Christine Downs, who represents Poland on the RSU 16 board and sits on the district’s Personnel & Finance Subcommittee, said the impetus for changing the budget referendum’s date was primarily to gain a competitive edge in hiring teachers.

“We do hear and appreciate the towns’ concerns with regard to the burdens that an earlier budget validation referendum would place on them,” Downs said, adding RSU 16 must “think outside the box” in its effort to be competitive in the search for educators.

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