RSU 68 residents approve near $15M budget

DOVER-FOXCROFT — Voters attending the annual RSU 68 district budget meeting on May 27 at the SeDoMoCha School approved a proposed 2025-26 budget totaling $14,995,969. 

This figure is now moved to a referendum vote in the district towns of Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson and Sebec on Tuesday, June 10 to coincide with the general Maine election.

In addition to the budget, residents will be asked if they wish to continue with the district budget meeting/referendum process for another three years and an HVAC system for the central office at the 572 Bangor Road facility with much of the project funding coming via a grant from the Maine Department of Education’s Revolving Renovation Fund.

The RSU 68 budget was developed with a pair of guiding principles, Superintendent Stacy Shorey said. The school board is committed to making transparent, student-centered budget decisions that are best for the pupils and are fiscally responsible and the board is also committed to decisions that reflect the district mission statement.

The $14,995,969 proposed 2025-26 budget is up $757,201 from the 2024-25 total of $14,238,768. Nearly a year ago this figure was approved by a combined count of 941-313 across the four RSU 68 communities.

The overall increase to taxpayers would be $190,945 (3.96 percent) from the combined 2024-25 assessment of $4,818,024 for Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson and Sebec. The 2026 proposed assessment total is $5,008,969.

For Charleston the proposed assessment in 2025-26 would increase by $36,607 or 5.85 percent to $662,151. Dover-Foxcroft would have an increase of $91,351 or 3.2 percent to $2,946,293.

Monson’s share would rise by $34,048 or 5.34  percent to $671,997. For Sebec the town assessment would be up by $28,938 or 4.14 percent to $728,527.

Budget meeting attendees approved RSU 68’s proportional $71,455 share of the $499,024 2025-26 Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative budget.

“It’s money very well spent,” Shorey said as many students from across the region take part in educational and enrichment programs through the adult ed organization.

The cooperative will be moving to The Mill complex in downtown Dover-Foxcroft from its current home a short distance away at the Penquis Higher Education Center on Mayo Street, Shorey explained in a response to a question about the future location. The education center is likely to be put on the market.

Earlier this year the Dover-Foxcroft Select Board voted to withdraw the town’s offer to retake possession of the Penquis Higher Education Center.

The building has been a local school for years; in the early 2000s what is now RSU 68 consolidated its elementary schools and gave the building to Dover-Foxcroft.

Soon after, ownership was transferred to Eastern Maine Community College, which wanted to open a satellite office to offer courses for the region. EMCC has had less of a need for a full building in recent years, so it approached the town about taking over the Penquis Higher Education Center. The town’s talks with Foxcroft Academy developed into looking at the facility as a home for career and technical education programs for both high school and post-secondary students.

About $2 million in upgrades would be needed for this endeavor, and the town was awarded $1.5 million in federal funding in congressionally directed spending. That funding disappeared when Congress approved a bill in March that averted a government shutdown but cut out earmarks for states, including hundreds of millions of dollars for Maine.

Every three years the state requires school districts to determine if they wish to continue with having a referendum to affirm the budget approved at the annual district meeting. If not, the meeting would be the only time to set the finances for the upcoming academic year.

In 2022 the question to continue having the referendum after the annual district budget meeting was approved by a combined 687-264 total across the four towns.

The Maine Department of Education has awarded RSU 68 a $971,540 loan for an HVAC system at 572 Bangor Road through the state’s zero interest rate/loan forgiveness School Revolving Renovation Fund for indoor air quality renovations and voters will be approving the funding on June 10.

Under the program the Maine Municipal Bond Bank will give RSU 68 loan forgiveness of about two thirds of the expenses of the loan principal, an estimated $640,925. 

The district would be obligated to replay only 34 percent or an estimated $330,615. Payments of just over $33,000 would be made annually over a decade with zero percent interest.

The 572 Bangor Road building, which for many years was the Charlotte White Center central office, was constructed in 1982. HVAC equipment was replaced in 2000 but the design problem of no mechanical ventilation was not remedied and currently student space — which will include 3-year-olds once this program launches — is not adequately ventilated.

“The district was awarded 24 percent of the grant this year,” said Building Information Management Systems Senior Vice President Don Bresnaham. RSU 68 was awarded more than $971,000 of $2 million for the current round of program funding. The district is one of four grantees out of a field of 13 applicants.

There are six takeaways, he said. The ventilation project is critical and necessary; the project has gone out to bid (dependent on how the June 10 vote goes) and is shovel ready; it is a once and lifetime opportunity; the work addresses all Maine codes and ventilation laws; is local taxpayer financed; and similar projects have been overwhelmingly approved in other districts.

If the question passes then construction would start over the summer, with ceiling duct work being done prior to the start of classes.

“The hope is to get this finished up by the first quarter of next year,” Bresnaham said.

The complex includes the superintendent’s office as well as leased space for Hayes Law Office, together making up about 16 percent of the building. These areas are not covered by the School Revolving Renovation Fund since students are not there. 

RSU 68 will pay $127,000 for superintendents and law office ventilation upgrades. This will come out of maintenance reserve funds.

Neighboring SAD 41 of Milo used the School Revolving Renovation Fund program several years ago for air system upgrades at Milo and Brownville elementary schools. The $935,000 project had a $670,000/$280,000 split with SAD 41 paying back $28,000 annually over a decade. In 2017 SAD 41 residents approved an approximate $474,000 Revolving Renovation Fund loan for a sprinkler system and elevator at the Penquis Valley School.