ORRINGTON — Holding a town meeting in late June may have advantages as well as disadvantages.

One of the disadvantages, for the time being, is that Orrington is now on a long list of school systems which are late in reporting their new budgets to the state.

Of the 283 school systems in the state, nearly a quarter of them are late with their budget forms, it has been reported. These systems could have their state subsidies withheld if the forms are not sent to the state by Aug. 20.

This year’s list of 58 delinquent schools is a large increase from the dozen schools that were tardy this time last year, said Suzan Cameron, a financial consultant for the Department of Education and Cultural Services.

The initial deadline for filing the reports to the department was July 1.

Orrington, one of two communities in Union 91, is the only system in the Bangor area tardy in reporting their budgets, Cameron said.

While the town is on the list, Orrington school and town officials said Wednesday that they expect the forms to be completed within the next several days.

Orland, the other town in the district, held its annual town meeting in March and filed its budget report earlier, Union 91 Superintendent Marc Curtis said Wednesday.

Curtis said that the Orrington budget is normally submitted to the state late because the annual town meeting is not held until June 25. “For us it’s not unusual,” he said.

Curtis added that it takes time after the meeting for the school budget to go through the verification process and for the three required forms to be completed.

All but one of the forms is complete now, Curtis said. A paper indicating how town residents voted on each of the articles is still at the town office, Curtis said. A town official said Wednesday that the paperwork would be completed in the next few days.

This year’s dramatic increase may be due to decreases in subsidies and subsequent problems some districts faced in passing their budgets, Cameron said.

“It’s just been a bad year for them,” she said.

Other school systems, she said, also faced unusual circumstances this year.

The town of Franklin, for example, separated from the Schoodic district in July, and school officials there may not know what information is required of them.

In another system, the computer system failed so officials had to collect and collate the data by hand.

Cameron also said early Wednesday morning that she was expecting eight of the late reports which apparently had been lost in the mail.