DIXFIELD — Selectmen on Monday accepted a petition from resident Jon Holmes calling for withdrawal from RSU 10 and set a public hearing on the proposal for Sept. 17.

Holmes, a longtime advocate of Dirigo High School, presented the petition signed by more than 135 voters.

“I’ve talked to numerous people who want to keep Dirigo High School its own school and not merge with Rumford or anyone else,” he told selectmen. “We want to go back to where we were.”

He said other towns in the former SAD 21, Canton, Carthage and Peru, are waiting to learn what happens with Dixfield’s efforts before possibly taking their own steps toward withdrawal.

Holmes said a proposal several months ago by the RSU 10 board and administration suggesting that Dirigo and Mountain Valley High School in Rumford merge, prompted the circulation of the petition.

To begin the 22-step process required for a town to pull out of a regional school district, about $50,000 would be needed for legal and other expenses.

Holmes also questioned why school taxes have gone up since the merger three years ago, when he understood that costs to operate the district were to decrease.

Selectman Scott Belskis said the $50,000 should be a good investment to learn how finances are set up in school districts.

“If research shows it will cost a lot more, then what?” Belskis asked Holmes.

“Then we’ll stay where we are,” Holmes said.

RSU 10 Superintendent Tom Ward told the board and the dozen or so residents who attended Monday’s nearly four-hour meeting that the district had saved more than $600,000 by combining the central offices of the three former school administrative districts. More than 50 positions have been eliminated and the region continues to look for more ways to save money.

He said by becoming a region, these positions were able to be absorbed without affecting student education.

“We kept the same budget for three years,” he said. “We didn’t say your taxes would go down, but that you’d save money.”

He said other factors, such as less state aid, higher property valuations, and the poor economy have greatly affected the tax rates in the region’s member towns.

“As state aid has shrunk, the amount of money the towns must raise has increased,” he said.

He also assured Holmes and others that three high schools will be maintained.

“The only thing that would change that would be if the state would approve a regional high school,” he said.

He said, too, that the region is looking for every possible way to properly use the space available in the district’s 10 school buildings.

The next step in the process is the public hearing set for 6 p.m. Sept. 17 in the community room of Dirigo High School.

After that, residents will decide during the Nov. 6 elections whether to begin the process for withdrawal. A final vote to approve or deny withdrawal would take place later.