Regional School Unit 10 Director Kristen Chapman, center, speaks at Monday’s board meeting at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School as Directors Darcy Klein of Rumford, left, and Erin Hinkley of Buckfield listen. Officials from Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner have requested that the location of the annual school budget meeting rotate among district towns. Marianne Hutchinson/Rumford Falls Times

BUCKFIELD — Officials from Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner are requesting that the Regional School Unit 10 annual budget meeting be held in district towns on a rotating basis to accommodate more voters.

The meeting in May is traditionally held at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford.

In a letter to the school board, Sumner Selectmen Jesse Wallingford, William Savage and Joel Chapman said they believe it would be “the only equitable way for all residents of the RSU to participate in this critical process that directly affects property taxes in all the district’s towns, not just those in the Mountain Valley region.”

They proposed the board “adopt a rotational schedule in which the meeting is held at a location in each town in the district.”

The district includes Rumford, Mexico, Roxbury, Hanover, Buckfield, Hartford and Sumner.

Buckfield Selectmen Robert Hand, Peter Fickett, Sandra Fickett and Heather Henley, and Hartford officials requested that the meeting rotate between Buckfield Junior-Senior High School and Mountain Valley High School.

Chapman requested during the public comment period at Monday’s school board meeting that the budget meeting rotate to the Buckfield area “since our budget, plus or minus, takes up roughly a third (of the district’s school budget) — even if you want to do it every third year.”

Superintendent Deb Alden said the school board must vote to change the location when it votes on the budget articles in early May.

“I agree we can do better,” she said, but those involved need to find a way they can get people involved in talking about what people really want and need when the board is building the budget from December through April.

Director Kristen Chapman of Sumner asked if the district should consider having a budget “cost share analysis breakdown” or an “educational piece” for 15 or 20 minutes before the annual budget meeting vote. That way, she said, “everybody is taking one night of their busy lives during the week to come and learn everything they need to know to cast a vote.”

Board Vice Chairman Chad Culleton of Hartford reiterated Alden’s point that the annual budget meeting is not the time to make decisions about what needs to be cut or added to the next year’s budget.

“We want to have everything already in place and have cut everything that we possibly need to cut before we get to that point,” he said. “We want you to get involved before we have that meeting; that meeting is just the end” of our budget process.