Windham prepares for Annual Town Meeting on Saturday

By Ed Pierce

The Annual Town Meeting in Windham represents a fundamental and important part of governance and has since the town adopted its current form of town council form of government in 1975.

Windham voters will gather at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 13 in
the Windham High School Auditorium for the Annual Town
Meeting for 2026. Decisions made by voters will determine
approval of the town's annual budget as put forward by the
Windham Town Council.  PHOTO BY KEIH MANK    

The meeting affords every registered voter in Windham an opportunity to express their opinion and vote on town warrant articles and the town’s annual budget for the coming year. This year’s Annual Town Meeting in Windham will be held at 10 a.m. on Saturday, June 13 in the Windham High School Auditorium at 406 Gray Road in Windham.

Last year a total of 130 Windham residents and members of the Windham Town Council attended the 4 ½ hour meeting and questioned nearly all the 30 proposed town warrant articles. 

The meeting was not without controversy as voters initially voted not to approve a warrant article regarding the town’s operating budget to fund General Government for the 2025-2026 Fiscal Year. Many of those voters left the meeting after that, only to discover that the operating budget warrant article was brought back to the floor for consideration and subsequently passed.

This year, Windham Town Manager Robert Burns is presenting a total budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 of $55,788,720, up 10.1 percent from last year’s budget of $50,865,671. Of that 10.1 percent increase, voters attending the town meeting will be making decisions about 27 warrant articles comprising the municipal budget, which is a 4.9 percent increase. Voters have already approved the proposed RSU 14 budget during a referendum on Tuesday, and that budget included an increase of 13.4 percent from last year. 

Burns said Windham’s lone potential Town Capital Project for the 2026/2027 year is the MacIntosh Brook Culvert Replacement at a cost of $624,000 with $208,000 of that cost funded by a grant. He said that the budget increase was not the result of new municipal programs, projects or capital spending, but the cumulative effect of costs largely beyond municipal control, with more than 60 percent of a typical local tax dollar in Windham now going toward education, a share that continues to grow as state funding formulas have shifted funding responsibility to municipalities.

He said RSU 14’s proposed school budget increased by more than $4 million, while Cumberland County taxes will also rise by about 9 percent. For the owner of an average-priced Windham home valued at about $433,000, if the annual budget is approved by voters, the increase would be about $524 more in annual property taxes.

Funding requests include purchasing a new ambulance for Windham Fire-Rescue, new tasers for Windham Police, new servers, firewalls and software licensing for the Windham Police Department, the first year of a three-year Comprehensive Plan Update, Community Park Stormwater Treatment, creation of Forbes Lane Park, repaving of the Mountain Division Trail, and a Brine System and Calcium Tank for Public Works.

New equipment to be purchased if the budget is approved includes a Tilt Trailer, Mower, Dump Truck, Pickup Truck, Chipper, Asphalt Planer, and Used Bucket Truck. The town also plans various equipment rentals, supplies and materials, gravel road reconstruction, surveying, pavement assessment, paving and reconstruction work, roof repair for the Windham sand shed, Varney Mill Estates drainage, a wash bay upgrade for Public Works and continuing the Smith Cemetery expansion project.

Ongoing capital projects for Windham include the North Windham Wastewater Treatment Plant and Conveyance System, the North Windham Wastewater Treatment System Service Connections, the MaineDOT North Windham Moves Project Design installing connector roads, adaptive tech signals, and bike/pedestrian lanes, preliminary engineering of the Windham Middle School reuse to a community center, and the Gambo Property road installation and Public Works Laydown Yard. 

Voters will decide if $10,602,273 in miscellaneous non-tax revenues should be appropriated for the town budget including Local Road Assistance, Boat, Snowmobile, and ATV Registration Fees, Homestead Exemption Reimbursement, Tree Growth Reimbursement, General Assistance Reimbursement, Veteran’s Exemption Reimbursement, and any State or Federal grants or other funds as anticipated to be provided by the Maine State Legislature or Federal Government, toward the total Municipal Budget for fiscal year 2026-2027 as recommended by the Windham Town Council.

Should voters reject the proposed town budget, warrant articles for funding for each town department and services would then have to be considered.

The final five warrant articles for voters to decide upon involve expansion of public sewers, issuance of general obligation bonds for the town’s grant match portion of the MDOT North Windham Moves Project, including the costs of planning, design, permitting, construction, utilities, site work, paving, landscaping, or improvements necessary in connection with the construction of that project, and issuing bonds for town debt service. <

RSU 14 budget passes, Raymond elects municipal candidates

By Ed Pierce

By a margin of just 200 votes, the RSU 14 annual budget was approved by voters in Windham and Raymond during Tuesday’s election.

Raymond voters have elected Susan Accardi, left, to the
RSU 14 Board of Directors, and Christopher Hanson, center,
and Kaela Gonzalez to the Raymond Board of Selectmen.
Accardi, Hanson and Gonzalez will serve three-year terms.
SUBMITTED PHOTOS   

In Windham, voters rejected the proposed $67.8 million budget, with 651 votes in favor and 676 voting no. But 408 voters in Raymond cast ballots approving the budget and 183 voted no. The combined totals resulted in 1,059 votes to approve the budget with 859 opposed.

The budget represents a 12.75 percent increase over last year’s $60,185,403 budget, with a 6.4 percent increase stemming from the construction of the new Windham Raymond Middle School. To offset that, the school district will receive an additional state subsidy to cover almost half of the increase, resulting in an impact to taxpayers of 6.5 percent. Included in the RSU 14 budget are regular operating expense increases and a Pre-K expansion program.

Voters in both towns approved a question asking if the current RSU 14 budget voting should be continued for the next three years. In Windham, 962 votes were cast in favor of this with 347 voting no. In Raymond, 347 voted to continue the budget voting process, with 183 voting no. Combined totals were 1,457 votes for, and 530 votes opposed.

In Raymond, two new members of the town’s Board of Selectmen were elected for three-year terms.

Christopher Hanson received 350 votes, and Kaela Gonzalez tallied 328 votes to earn seats on the Select Board. Hanson is the code enforcement officer for Raymond and graduated from the University of Maine Orono. He also serves as a member of Raymond’s Budget-Finance Committee. Gonzalez is a program coordinator with the city of Portland and has a degree in Health Science. She has served on various town committees including the town’s most recent Comprehensive Plan Committee and she formerly worked for the Town of Raymond.

Also receiving votes for the Raymond Select Board were Frederick Miller (239 votes) and Mark Meister (204 votes). All 30 municipal approval questions asked of Raymond voters were approved, including spending $67,500 for a partnership with the Regional Transportation Program to establish a QuickRide program. Once created, local riders using QuickRide will be able to schedule transportation to pick them up and take them where they want to go within the Raymond community for a nominal fee.

Raymond voters also elected three members to the town’s Budget Finance Committee for three-year terms. Karen Lockwood (443 votes), Shawn McKillop (392 votes) and Deanna Lee (375 votes) were elected to serve on the committee.

Susan Accardi received 366 votes to Diana Froisland’s 272 votes to serve a three-year term on the RSU 14 Board of Directors representing Raymond. Accardi is a retired registered nurse and served as a school nurse with RSU 14. She has been a member of the Raymond Budget-Finance Committee for two terms, been a member of various short-term town committees, has served as a town ballot clerk and sits on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Raymond Village Library.

The Annual Town Meeting for Windham will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 14 in the Town Hall Gymnasium on School Road in Windham. During the meeting, voters will be asked to approve the municipal services budget for fiscal year 2025–2026 as approved by the Windham Town Council.

The Windham budget proposal of $50,402,149 is a 6.39 percent increase from last year’s $46,991,715 budget and includes funding for several significant capital improvement projects in the town.

Should the budget pass, Windham will construct a new North Windham Public Safety Building housing firefighters behind Hannaford Supermarket on Route 302, design and construct new playing fields at Gambo Fields, build a new public ice rink and playground in North Windham, and continue funding for the North Windham Moves and sewer projects. <