NEW SHARON - Voters will be asked Saturday to accept the old New Sharon School and about 4.4 acres of land it sits on from SAD 9 and move the town office into it.

It is projected to cost about $17,000 a year to operate the building as the new town office, but it would be offset by about $8,250 saved in rent and revenue from leasing space to Head Start.

If the answer is yes to both questions, then residents will be asked to appropriate $6,500 from the surplus account for heat, lights, insurance and maintenance for the remainder of the year.

In addition, voters will consider appropriating $7,500 from the surplus account to replace 13 windows and one external door on the old school. A new elementary school has been built further up Cape Cod Hill Road.

The town has about $150,000 in the surplus account, Selectman Maynard Webster said.

SAD 9 had replaced the windows on the other side of the old school building last year.

The old school housed the SAD 9 superintendent's office, central office functions and staff among some directors of districtwide programs until August.

SAD 9 directors moved those offices to the ground level of the middle school in Farmington for cost efficiency and voted to offer the building back to the town.

Head Start leases space in the old school, and if voters agree to accept the building, it would like to lease additional space, Webster said.

Residents will also be asked to vote on making the building available for lease on terms and conditions negotiated by the selectmen.

The special town meeting begins at 9 a.m. Sept. 6 at the Cape Cod Hill School.

"If we get the authorization to accept the building and move the town office into it, it would provide much needed space," Webster said. "Right now we pay rent."

The town leases 625 square feet for town office operations, including selectmen's and Planning Board meetings, and voting purposes other than a town meeting. This year, the rent is $4,000 but next year it is going up to $6,000, Webster said.

The new building is 11,700 square feet, according to a business energy audit.

Town office functions could be held in a couple of rooms and the others could be leased, if voters agree.

Head Start leases one room now for $1,125 a year, which includes heat, he said.

If voters approve the warrant articles, then Head Start is interested in leasing another room at the same cost of $1,125.

That would be $2,250 in revenue coming in and $6,000 less in rent going out.

"We recognize we are subsidizing Head Start," he said, "but we feel Head Start is a valuable program. We would be looking to rent out other offices, too, pending voter approval."

There are 12 rooms on the main level of the building that are all handicap accessible.

The lower level of the building is not handicap accessible and is unusable and off limits at the current time. On that level there is an old gymnasium, cafeteria and boiler room.

Selectmen had an energy audit done on the building, and it was found to be a sound building and well maintained, Webster said.