BLUE HILL – There were more questions than answers Thursday night as representatives from area schools took the first official steps toward state-mandated consolidation.

The session was an organizational meeting for the member communities the state has recommended get together to form Regional School Unit 10. As recommended, the unit would contain Surry and the towns from School Union 76, representing Stonington, Deer Isle, Sedgwick and Brooklin; and School Union 93, representing Blue Hill, Castine Brooksville and Penobscot. Also attending were representatives from the towns of Orland and Bucksport, communities that conceivably could link with the RSU 10 towns to form a larger unit.

The charge from the state is for the towns to decide which of them will participate in the unit. Each town must submit a letter of intent by Aug. 31 stating which communities it intends to partner with. That letter, however, is not binding.

Much of Thursday’s meeting was spent discussing what information the individual school boards needed before they can move forward with the process.

Finances were the main focus, and representatives agreed they will need to know the impact participating in the RSU will have on taxpayers.

Robert Webster, superintendent of Union 76, presented a basic financial analysis based on the eight school departments in the two unions that indicated most of the towns will pay significantly more as part of an RSU than they do now. That did not sit well with any of the school representatives.

“We’re going to be looking to raise from our taxpayers [an amount] that far exceeds what we raise now to run our schools in a way we feel is satisfactory,” said Tom Gutow, chairman of the Castine School Committee. “This will cost us excessive amounts.”

Several representatives noted that there was a very real possibility that any or all of the schools in the proposed district could choose not to participate for that reason, despite the penalties outlined in the law.

The Department of Education has indicated it will provide financial analysis as part of the process of forming RSUs and the representatives instructed their superintendents to seek such analysis for several different RSU scenarios.

There also was much discussion about when to involve other municipal officers, such as selectmen, and community members. Although school departments are charged with making the initial RSU proposal, a committee that includes three representatives from each town – that must include a municipal officer and a member of the community at large – will be responsible for developing the unit that will be presented to voters in the respective towns.

Skip Greenlaw, co-chair from the Deer Isle-Stonington CSD, argued that municipal officers should be included before the discussion went much further. Others argued that they needed to have more information to present to selectmen and councilors before they could meet with them.

Other information the representatives said they needed included salary and benefit figures, staff numbers and contract expiration dates.

Mary Cummins of Brooklin suggested that they also needed to look at educational implications the consolidation will have for their individual towns.

“We can’t forget that we’re supposed to be running our schools,” she said. “It means a great deal to have a school in a local community and having kids going to that school.”

The committee representatives set Aug. 20 for their next meeting, which will include the three representatives from each town.