JAY – Polls will be open all day Tuesday, as residents cast ballots for two selectpersons, two school board directors and a $6 million municipal budget at the Community Building. Livermore and Livermore Falls will join Jay voters to decide on whether or not to validate an $18.8 million Regional School Unit 73 budget.
Polls will be open from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24 in all three towns. In Jay, voters will have two choices for the second selectperson seat, with incumbent Selectperson Keith Cornelio running against challenger and former selectperson Thomas Goding. Selectperson Terry Bergeron, who sits in the first selectperson seat, is running unopposed.
On the RSU 73 school board, three residents are running for two, three-year terms: incumbent directors Micheal Morrell and Joel Pike, as well as former director Michael Schaedler.
The municipal budget for Jay is proposed at $6.18 million, an increase of roughly $56,000 as compared to the current fiscal year. Revenues are projected to increase to $1.77 million, resulting in $4.42 million in net expenditures or a reduction of roughly $80,000 as compared to the current fiscal year.
The town budget features some changes to the traditional cost centers, such as the transfer station’s Solid Waste line, which has been added into the Public Works Department budget. Similarly, custodial services and some utilities have been split between the town office and the police department, reflecting the shared building on Main Street. Other items previously included in Buildings & Grounds, which has been removed, have been moved to Professional Services, such as animal control and paying Franklin County Animal Shelter to accept those animals.
Per the suggestion of the Solid Waste Committee, curbside pickup funding will appear as a separate article, at the cost of $123,000.
The budget also includes the third and final $1.33 million settlement payment to Verso.
The RSU 73 budget approved by voters at the April 5 district-wide meeting is the same as the one advanced by the school board: $18.8 million. That would represent an increase of $749,907 over the current fiscal year, or 4.15 percent. Despite the increase, local tax assessments relating to RSU 73 are anticipated to decline by $1.44 million. This is due to statewide changes in General Purpose Aid, the use of a $1.35 million cash balance and a significant reduction in Jay’s valuation.
Of the $18.8 million budget, $9.31 million will be paid for by the local towns. Another $7.97 million will be paid for by the state, with $1.5 million coming from other sources, mostly a $1.36 million cash balance.
The state revenue service previously approved a $61.55 million reduction in Jay’s valuation for 2016, 2017 and the 2018 proposed valuation under the “sudden and severe” provision, due to changes at the Verso Androscoggin Mill. The reduction in valuation results in more state support for RSU 73 and less local funding through the Jay assessment. Under the proposed budget, Jay’s local tax assessment would decline by $1.39 million, as compared to the current fiscal year, down to $5.66 million. Livermore’s assessment would go to $1.91 million, a decrease of $36,000; Livermore Falls’ assessment would go to $1.73 million, a decrease of $2,900.
Included in the proposed $750,000 increase to expenditures is $720,000 for increases in Special Education expenditures. That increase chiefly stems from three areas: reductions in federal money that previously deferred local and state funding, additional out-of-district placements and the creation of a day treatment program for elementary students. RSU 73 is seeking to create a behavioral program for approximately a dozen students in grades 2 to 5, hiring a Special Education teacher and two Ed Techs, as well as utilizing time from other specialists. That program, which is budgeted at $183,000, would run out of Spruce Mountain Elementary School.
The budget also includes an initial payment associated with the proposed, $5.87 million energy efficiency renovation for RSU 73 buildings. Annual debt service expenditures would actually decrease, however, due to the retirement of the Spruce Mountain Middle School project debt.
A ‘yes’ vote in the RSU 73 towns would approve the budget. A ‘no’ vote would reject it, effectively restarting the process.
