2016 budget in the early stages of development

By Stuart Hedstrom 
Staff Writer

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — With the calendar having recently changed from 2014 to 2015, officials in RSU 68 have started their work on finances for the 2016 fiscal year. During a school board meeting on Jan. 6 Superintendent Robert Lucy mentioned a timeline for the development of the 2015-16 budget was presented in December.

    “The first part of this budget, as you know, is gathering information,” Lucy said, as administrators have collected various proposals and later in the week were scheduled to submit the refined requests. Lucy said a week later will be the first sessions to review the budget proposals. The finance committee is scheduled to then have its first meeting on Jan. 27.
    “Obviously there is a lot of information we don’t have yet from the state,” Lucy said, mentioning the preliminary draft of subsidy figures may be available in late February.
    Board Chair Rick Johnston said the budget meetings are open to the public, and he encouraged board members not on the finance committee to attend. Johnston also urged his fellow directors to be talking with constituents on the budget process.
    “The more input we get before the district budget meeting, the better,” he said, saying RSU 68 officials would like to be made aware of any concerns residents have.
    A draft of the 2015-16 RSU 68 budget could be presented in April with a vote then taken at the May school board meeting. If these steps are followed then the district budget meeting could be held in late May to send the spending plan to a referendum vote several weeks later in June.
    In other business, the board approved the district emergency management plan. Before the vote Johnston said, “The plan looks fine to me but hopefully there’s a test of it at some point.”
    “One of the things about emergency management plans is they are always a work in progress,” Lucy said. He said the intent is to bring the plan back for a vote annually, after necessary adjustments have been made.
    The Jan. 6 meeting had presentations from both Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Collaborative Director Thelma Regan and Foxcroft Academy Head of School Arnold Shorey, who talked about various educational opportunities for students either currently offered or will be made available in the near future. The various programs for pupils range from career training to the opportunity for Foxcroft Academy students to take college-level courses for post-secondary credit.
    Johnston said he wanted to note all of these programs that are available for high-schoolers and adults in the area. He said people may not be aware of all the offerings and the potential these have for economic development.
    In his report, Lucy said, “The baseball dugouts are done. I think they are good and will be a nice addition to our athletic complex.”
    In correspondence, the superintendent said that grade 3 teacher Linda Johnston announced that she would be retiring at the end of the year. “Linda has been a teacher in our school system for 38 years,” Lucy said, thanking Johnston for her dedication and contributions to the school community.
    He also said during the previous month the Piscataquis County Retired Educators Association gave SeDoMoCha Elementary a $50 donation. “It was to support our elementary students who may be in need of snacks,” Lucy said. He said a thank you card has been sent to the association, which he believes gave similar contributions to four other schools in the county.