CANTON — Selectmen have postponed the annual Town Meeting from June 15 to June 27 because the financial audit for fiscal year 2021-22 is not completed.

Vice Chairwoman Carole Robbins said at Thursday’s board meeting town officials need the accounting record finished before voters decide on the spending plan for fiscal year 2023-24, which begins July 1.

Selectman Michelle Larrivee said the audit will allow voters to ask questions, especially when going over the budget.

In other business, Regional School Unit 56 Superintendent Pam Doyen presented an overview of the 2023-24 budget.

Voters in Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru approved a proposed budget of $13.56 million May 23 at the annual district budget meeting at Dirigo High School, Doyen said.

A final budget vote will be held June 13 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at polling stations in each town.

If the budget passes, each town will see higher assessments for the coming fiscal year: Canton 12.86%, Carthage 1.086%, Dixfield 3.903% and Peru 3.740%.

At the May 23 budget meeting, residents voted 34-2 to add $18,800 to keep the boys and girls high school soccer program next year.

The program was cut by directors to lower the overall budget and because school administrators were informed there would be only four boys and 10 girls to play, Doyen said at the budget meeting.

Bethany Meehan-Poulin of Dixfield, a parent of Dirigo High School students, said then she and others “have been told we have 14 girls and I believe 12 boys” for next year.

Doyen also told selectmen about a bus garage project for the district. If voters approve the $1.1 million project June 13, the district would build a 40-foot by 80-foot metal building with two bays, a bathroom, an office and a mezzanine near Dirigo Middle School at One Middle School Drive, Doyen said.

It would mean the district would no longer pay Dixfield to rent a building, which it has for more than 30 years. The building is in need of repairs.

The new garage “would not increase taxes,” she said, since the district has $500,000 in a capital reserve fund and another $565,000 will be moved, with voter approval, from this year’s fund balance into the capital reserve fund.

If approved, construction will begin in the fall or winter of 2023 and be completed by the fall of 2024.

In other business Thursday, Brian Jordan of the Canton Trail Riders ATV Club told selectmen he and other members have installed signs on the ATV trail at Alden Hill Road. The signs include those designating the speed limit at 15 miles per hour and others urging caution, he said.

The signs were set back from the road to not interfere with plowing and ditching, he said.

Members have also been cutting trees on Jewett Hill Road and fixing a section that was washed out, he said.

In another matter, Selectman Kristi Carrier told the board she will seek an estimate from Livermore contractor Adam Castonguay to grind tree stumps from several large piles in a field near Pine Grove Cemetery on state Route 108. Since he has a gravel pit about a mile from the cemetery and he has the equipment, she said, “It seems like the most logical option at this point.”

Selectmen accepted a $500 bid from This and That company of Canton to paint the Town Office meeting room. The bid was the only one received.

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