JAY – Selectmen took no action Monday on a request to put a citizen’s referendum article on the ballot for voters to decide how to pay for an anticipated $215,199 state penalty for rejecting school consolidation.

Town Manager Ruth Marden said it would be a difficult task to have a town meeting warrant article address the school penalty this year.

Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls voters rejected consolidating school systems in Jay. The state warned in the beginning that those not complying with the school reorganization law would face a penalty.

Jay resident Michael Schaedler, author of the proposed warrant article, said it just feels fair and rationale that the people responsible for accepting the fine pay the fine, instead of the school being stuck with it.

His proposal would have given voters four options to choose from on how to pay the penalty.

Marden said the town meeting warrant is done and posted and the public hearing was held Monday night prior to the selectmen’s meeting.

“We cannot make changes,” she said.

The school is not going to pay a fine, she said; the penalty will be withheld from the state subsidy for education.

A referendum-style vote requires following a specific time schedule leading up to a vote. Warrant articles need to be approved, posted for a hearing, and that hearing needs to be held 10 days ahead of absentee ballots becoming available. Those ballots will be available on March 27, 30 days ahead of the actual referendum vote on April 27.

Marden also pointed out that the town is also seeing a decline in revenue from the state that includes less excise tax, revenue sharing, tree growth and veterans exemption reimbursement.

The town also has to use $450,000 out of the town’s undesignated general fund to help pay an additional six months for Jay’s share of an 18-month Franklin County government budget. The county switched to a fiscal year and each town in the county must pay an additional six months of taxes but can opt to finance it over five years.

Marden said that would leave 90 days of undesignated funds to cover town and school operations from July 1 until the taxes are collected.

Prior to the selectmen’s meeting, it took less than 30 minutes to go over a proposed $6 million municipal budget, which is up less than 1 percent over the current budget.