FORT KENT, Maine — MSAD 27 finally has an approved school budget after voters rejected it twice this year.
Voters in the Fort Kent-area school district approved the $16,041,080 budget in a referendum vote Thursday. The district’s first budget was one of at least 16 school budgets that Maine voters rejected in June.
The original budget was roughly $16.5 million and would have represented a 6.4% overall increase over last year’s budget, or $429,404. The budget would have hit the MSAD 27 communities of Fort Kent and Wallagrass with 8.2% and 9.4% increases, respectively. Because of this, officials in both towns issued advisory resolutions opposing the budget on May 30.
After voters rejected the first budget, school officials created a second budget that cut six positions and reduced expenses by nearly half a million dollars. The second budget also reduced food service equipment and building supplies and required students to pay to participate in sports in order to generate additional revenue.
Even though this second budget was slightly lower than the budget voters approved last year, it was still rejected in late August. The third iteration of the budget approved by voters Thursday is $93,911 lower than the budget residents approved last year and $86,905 lower than the budget rejected in August.
Between the second and third budget referendum votes, the town of Fort Kent had to set its annual mill rate to meet its deadline. This year’s new mill rate is 23.85, which is about a 1 mill increase over last year’s rate. The mill rate assumed the total amount of the second school budget, and the difference will be used to offset next year’s taxes.
All five MSAD 27 communities voted in favor of the third iteration of the budget. Fort Kent voters approved it with 243 in favor and 153 opposed. New Canada approved it with a 16 to 12 vote. St. Francis had a 14 to 10 vote. St. John Plantation voted 18 to 3 in favor of the budget, and Wallagrass voted 22 to 16 in favor. Across all communities, 313 voted in favor of the budget while 194 voted against it.
