Hampden-area schools to present new budget to voters after 1st plan rejected

A new budget for Regional School Unit 22 will be presented to voters in July.

The district cut just more than $500,000 from the budget, Superintendent Nicholas Raymond said, and will maintain the same services without any positions being cut.

"As far as this current budget ... the needs of the district are still being met and we're certainly hoping to have approval," Raymond said.

Residents of Hampden, Winterport, Frankfort and Newburgh, which make up RSU 22, rejected the district's proposed $39,563,785 budget during the June 11 election. The district will present the new $39,014,781 budget during a July 10 meeting.

Residents in all four towns will see a decrease in their tax assessment for the school department, Raymond said. Roughly $3 million from the district's fund balance will go toward the budget, compared with $650,000 from the 2023-24 school year. It's part of the district's plan to decrease the fund balance, which is around $5 million more than it can legally carry.

In coming years, the amount from the fund balance put toward the budget will gradually decrease, so residents will not see a sudden tax increase when the fund balance is down to its legal level, Raymond said.

One of the biggest changes to the budget is only hiring two people to help with education plans for individual students, instead of four.

"It's difficult to go back and say we don't need these positions," Raymond said. "Bottom line is we need them, which is why we had them in the budget in the first place."

The goal is to hire the two additional people during the 2025-26 school year, he said.

The upcoming school year will see around a $1.5 million increase in wages and insurance because of the new educators contract, along with the support staff contract, Raymond said.

Until a new budget is approved, the district will operate as if the 2023-24 budget will be the 2024-25 budget, he said. That means it isn't ordering supplies and doing summer projects.

"I think it would be important for everyone to know there has been a lot of thought put into this budget, even from the beginning," Raymond said.

The district budget meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. July 10 at Hampden Academy. The referendum is July 18.