LIVERMORE FALLS — Residents of RSU 73 on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved an $18.89 million budget and agreed to keep a section of the Livermore Falls High School open for another year.
Superintendent Robert Wall said Wednesday that the budget vote was 66-9. The only changes from the original proposal was restoring a Reading 180 teaching position and eliminating an administrative support position at Spruce Mountain High School.
The 2014-15 budget is $310,000 more than this year, or a 1.7 percent increase.
Residents in Livermore Falls, Livermore and Jay will decide whether to validate the budget at referendums April 29. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town offices in Livermore Falls and Livermore, and the Jay Community Center.
Voters also overwhelmingly approved a budget of $132,000 for 2014-15 to maintain the Adult Education Center at the former Livermore Falls High School. Each of the three towns will be required to pay $44,000 toward that cost.
Wall said he was pleased with the outcome of both votes.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to be explored for that space,” he said of the Adult Education Center. “(Adult Education Director) Eileen Miazga is doing her best to keep it viable.”
Prior to the vote on the building, Miazga outlined the current uses, which also include multiple sports from the high and middle schools, and community and college class access.
She had asked for another year at the building to develop potential new uses, including a conference center and a culinary/hospitality program that could bring in revenue to help defray the cost of maintaining the site.
“The possibilities are endless,” she told residents Tuesday night.
She had said that keeping that section of the building open for another year would provide time to organize an advisory committee to oversee the use of the building.
Residents voted to close the former high school in 2011 and move high school students to Spruce Mountain High School in Jay. The academic wing of the building has been sealed off.
-
- Residents of Livermore, Livermore Falls and Jay wait to vote on the RSU 73 budget Tuesday night in Livermore Falls.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
