Newport -
Come November, voters in RSU 19 will have a tough choice to make.
The school district's budget committee and superintendent laid it all out during a meeting on Tuesday night at Nokomis Regional High School.
To fix a major budget shortfall, which they're calling a "fiscal crisis," Superintendent Gregory Potter is recommending taking out a loan of a minimum amount of $3 million.
That would have to be voted on by taxpayers in the eight towns making up RSU 19.
Potter says if voters don't support that option, there will be consequences to existing programs and services.
"If that happens, we need to be ready to reduce spending through cuts immediately because we are dealing with this depleting, declining balance in the bank that is going to go into the red we know probably by the middle of the year and that is with freezing a whole lot of things in the process of getting to that," said Potter.
Some of the proposed reductions include cutting $140,000 in supplies and equipment, $30,000 from the music department and $50,000 in transportation costs for sports and co-curricular activities.
The full school board's next meeting is September 18.
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