After years of public backlash, a Greater Bangor school district is now required to spend millions of dollars of surplus funds.
Regional School Unit 22, which oversees Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport and Frankfort, has to spend over $2 million of unallocated funds — money that isn’t designated for a specific department to use — in the next three years.
How and what the money will be spent will be decided by the school’s budget committee, Superintendent of Schools Nick Raymond said. The committee will look at the district’s needs and decide how the funds should be spent, he said.
“We work constantly on how to appropriately work down our fund balance, but there is no written document on exactly what steps will be taken, and for how much money. We look at our district level priorities on an annual basis and work from there,” Raymond said.
Like many schools in the area, RSU 22’s budget has grown in recent years, but the district stands out as one of the few able to use millions of dollars to offset how much taxpayers contribute to the school.
The district has more than $6 million in unallocated funds, or nearly 15% of its most recent budget, created through unexpected tuition revenue and operating costs coming in under budget. State legislation passed last year requires districts to have that amount be at or below 9% of the school’s most recent budget.
If a district isn’t below that threshold, it has three years to spend the money down, meaning just under half of the funds, $2.4 million, will have to be spent in the coming years.
The district has not published a spending plan, but Raymond said during a Feb. 25 school board meeting the district would meet the deadline.
“I don’t think [spending down] is going to be an issue,” Raymond said at the meeting.
The district could more easily reach the required percentage by continuing to offer carry-forward money — surplus reallocated as revenue to lower local taxes — Raymond said.
A 2025 fund balance plan showed $3 million of the excess used as revenue. The plan indicates the money used as revenue would be lowered every year to avoid a “financial cliff for taxpayers.”
That amount dropped to $1 million in 2026, according to documents Raymond provided.
School Board Chair Lester French and Vice Chair Stacey Haskell did not respond to a request for comment on plans for future uses of the funds.
The surplus has drawn backlash from community members.
RSU 22 communities asked for excess funds to be returned in 2024. Letters from Hampden, Newburgh, Winterport and Frankfort asked for $5 million back because the district exceeded the state limit of unallocated funds.
“We are having people here left and right indicating and complaining how we are not budgeting correctly. So, although the number of our fund balance is still high, it is as important as stated to be fiscally responsible and have something there in case of emergencies,” Raymond said at the meeting.
RSU 22 has used nearly $6 million in unallocated funds to offset revenue and local taxes since 2022. In that time, the fund balance has fallen by less than half a million dollars.
Transfers to technology, building and athletic reserves account for the majority of other funds being used.
Despite paying into reserves and carrying forward money as revenue, unallocated funds have not dropped below $6 million since 2021 and peaked above $11.5 million in 2024.
The surplus puts the RSU in better financial shape than other Maine school districts despite having to spend millions in coming years, Raymond said at the meeting.
“We have done a nice job bringing that down to a reasonable level, but I’d rather be in this situation than asking the community for more money,” Raymond said in February.