JAY — The amount of taxes needed to cover education in Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls was reduced even further Thursday night during the budget hearing due to a $100,000 decrease in the proposed 2023/24 budget.
Voters at the hearing made three adjustments before approving all 19 articles relating to the proposed budget for the coming year, reducing it from $23.3 million to $23.2 million.
Scott Hartford, a teacher at Spruce Mountain Middle School speaks at the Regional School Unit 73 budget hearing Thursday night, April 6, held at the high school in Jay. He supported raising the salaries for two teachers who will complete their master’s degree this year but failed to file needed paperwork in time. Also seen from left are board of directors Andrew Sylvester, Patrick Milligan, Tina Riley and Lenia Coates. Pam Harnden/Livermore Falls Advertiser
The amount needed for regular instruction was cut $100,000 because the rates received from Anthem [for insurances] weren’t as high as had been predicted, Superintendent Scott Albert said. “That’s good for us,” he added.
Albert last week shared that a recalculation by the state to correct errors in state funding for education meant Spruce Mountain school district taxpayers would see smaller increases than initially expected to fund local education. The additional $249,205 being received from the state meant the amount needed to be raised through assessments from the the three towns could be decreased by that amount.
The $100,000 cut approved earlier in the meeting meant those amounts could be reduced further.
Taxes from Jay will now be $79,668.24 or 1.78% more than last year, but down from the most recent amount of $128,842.65. Jay proposed assessment of $4.55 million this year is up from last year’s $4.47 million. Two years ago education taxes for Jay were $1.59 million.
Livermore’s taxes will now be $31,401.97 or 1.27% more, down from the last figure of $56,605.83. Livermore’s proposed assessment of $2.49 million is up from last year’s $2.46 million.
Livermore Falls’ taxes will see a decrease of 0.7% or $17,730.15, down from the projected increase of $7,891.58. Livermore Falls’ assessment of $2.29 million is down from last year’s $2.31 million.
An attempt to cut $94,000 from regular instruction instead of $100,000 failed. Scott Hartford, who has been a teacher in the district for 35 years [22 at the middle school] suggested the additional $6,000 raise salaries for two teachers who will have completed their masters degree work this summer but didn’t file the required paperwork with the superintendent by the November deadline. Hartford said most teachers in the district were unaware of the requirement.
“These two teachers have spent hundreds of hours of their own time, over several years, taking courses to better themselves and earn their master’s degrees,” Hartford noted. “Both teachers submitted their grades and forms for reimbursement to the business office over those years, yet at no time did anybody tell them that in order to receive the pay the contract says they should earn for their master’s degree that they would need to notify the superintendent in writing by the end of November the year before.”
Hartford shared many instances when he and other middle school staff have worked beyond their contract’s specified time frame, giving extra hours to help students and assist with fundraising for things the budget does not pay for. “Show [these teachers] that you appreciate them and their efforts, and the efforts of all teachers,” he urged. “Do it because it is the right thing to do.”
Even if the money were put back in the budget, it wouldn’t be paid to those teachers because of how the contracts read, the contracts need to be followed, Albert said.
“This body doesn’t direct how the money gets spent,” moderator Clint Boothby stated.
“As much as I would like to see these people be rewarded for their hard work, I was a teacher for 33 years,” Board Chair Robert Staples said. He served as a building representative and would let the people in his building know important dates at the beginning of each school year. If contracts were broken for this, they could be broken for other things, he stated.
“It’s a contractual thing,” Staples noted. “You have to be very careful.”
The $94,000 amendment for regular instruction failed, then the $100,000 was approved as was the adjusted amount of $8.77 million.
After the meeting, Albert said the district usually doesn’t receive the Anthem rates for insurance until after the next year’s budget is approved. If that had happened this year, the money not spent would have gone into the fund balance, he added.
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
