Voters in the Caribou-based RSU 39 overwhelmingly struck down a proposed $1.5 million school budget increase Tuesday.
Caribou voters rejected the budget with a resounding 146 to 443 vote. It was supported in the smaller community of Stockholm with a 25 to 9 vote, but that was not enough to offset Caribou’s opposition.
If passed, it would have been the third consecutive school budget to increase by more than 5 percent, but notably, with a smaller increased burden on taxpayers than the two years previous.
In fiscal year 2025, RSU 39’s budget jumped by $1.4 million, over $1 million of which had to come from local taxpayers. In the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, just $284,562 of the $1.5 million increase was set to fall on taxpayers.
“This is the best budget — the least impact to the taxpayers — we’ve been able to submit in three years,” RSU 39 business manager Mark Bouchard said. “The last two years prior were tough years. Our board was very aware of that and they were making sure that we did everything we could to keep this as low as possible.”
Major items spurring the budget increase include a combined $800,000 increase in salary and benefits across the district, a roof and tile replacement at Caribou High School and the purchase of a service vehicle with a plow. But more than $1 million in state subsidy increases, from $15.8 to $16.8 million, lessened the taxpayer burden.
District residents raised concerns about the potential property tax increase in the weeks leading up to the referendum.
The prospect of an overall tax rate hike of 4.2 mills, including 1.7 mills from increases to the RSU 39 budget, caused the Caribou City Council to consider having department heads cut a combined $1 million from the 2025-26 city budget during a May 27 council meeting.
“Without significant growth in the city of Caribou, taxes are going to go up. We have to live within our means,” Councilor Dan Bagley said at the time.
Some residents circulated a figure north of $650,000 on social media as the “true” taxpayer cost of the new budget.
But that number is a misconstrued representation of how the school district’s budget is rolled into the city’s, Bouchard said. The city of Caribou operates on a calendar year, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. RSU 39 works on a fiscal year from July 1 to June 30. This means that a tax increase caused by a rise in the school budget is split across two years in mill rate calculations and property tax bills.
The $668,784 figure is the total taxpayer cost due to school budget increases, but a majority of that increase would have occurred regardless. It includes half of the $1.05 million rise in RSU 39’s fiscal year 2025 budget, approved in June 2024.
“That number has to be a consideration for the city, but it should not be when considering the school district budget, because it’s already done and gone,” Bouchard said. “Our number and [the city’s] number will never be the same, but they’re both right.”
RSU 39 superintendent Jane McCall will evaluate possible reductions and present a modified budget to the school board at a June 23 meeting.
