The school board of Caribou-based RSU 39 voted Wednesday to advance a budget with a projected $1.5 million increase over the previous year.
The increase, which would raise the total budget to roughly $26 million, is almost 1% lower than the budget business manager Cristy St. Peter brought to the school board in mid-April. She attributed that drop to not filling vacancies and using other funding sources to cover some costs.
If approved by voters, the budget would raise the required local tax ask by approximately $700,000. The impact of that on property taxes will be split between two years because the school district and city of Caribou run on different fiscal years.
In an attempt to calculate the impact of the hike on individual tax bills, St. Peter projected the city’s 2026 total property valuation and mill rate — which are not yet finalized — based on recent trends. Her projection suggested a 0.31 mill increase, which would add $31 to the tax bill of a $100,000 house.
“I think if we boil it down and we look at it through a different lens … I feel very confident and I feel like this is a reasonable ask based upon all the things we’ve considered,” St. Peter said.
The budget is next set for a public vote at a May 20 meeting to be held at 6 p.m. at the Caribou Performing Arts Center. If passed, it will head to a June 9 referendum coinciding with the primary elections.
If approved by voters, it would mark the fourth consecutive year the district raised its budget by more than $900,000.
A vast majority of the increase comes from fixed costs, primarily a rise in salary and benefits for district staff pre-negotiated in a collective bargaining agreement. Other drivers include an 11.5% increase in health insurance and a 5% rise in property and casualty insurance.
Voters rejected RSU 39’s budget at referendum twice last summer — the first two times on record — before finally approving a third revision in September, after the school year had already begun.