JAY – Voters agreed to raise $40,000 through taxation for an adult education program run by SAD 36 in Livermore Falls. The original warrant article sought nothing, but voters rejected that article by a vote of 8-28.

They declined to raise money for adult education last year.

Concerns were raised Tuesday about the number of people losing their jobs and the need to support education for those people.

SAD 36 Adult Education Director Carrie Castonguay of Jay said she had been serving Jay residents through the college preparation, GED and high school completion and basic skills programs because she received federal funds for those programs.

SAD 36 voters in Livermore Falls and Jay contribute $79,500 for the program, she said. Enrollment is up 159 percent over last year, Castonguay said.

“Thirty percent of them are Jay residents,” she said.

There have already been 5,607 contact hours this year compared to 1,702 last year, she said. “Half my graduates are from Jay,” she said, referring to GED and high school.

Asked what it would take for Jay to contribute, Castonguay told voters half of the $79,500 would do it. Resident Jean Richard made the motion to raise $40,000.

That money, along with the $9.75 million budget for 2009-10 that voters approved Tuesday, will next head to a referendum validation, yes-or-no vote on Monday, April 27.

Most of the articles related to the budget passed overwhelmingly, except for Article 7, which asked for $293,438 for system administration. It passed 30-24.

That budget line was up $27,257 and contained money for a year-round payroll clerk for the business office. Residents questioned the need for the clerk.

School Committee Chairwoman Mary Redmond-Luce said that position would be filled by a person serving as a secretary currently at a school. The district is cutting one secretary position and instead of laying off a secretary, one will fill the new position, she said.

The additional cost to have the clerk work 37 hours a week year-round, compared to a secretary that isn’t a full-year position is about $5,400, Redmond-Luce said. The money was deducted equally from two principals’ office budgets, she said.

Redmond-Luce read a letter from the auditor that supported the addition of the position to take care of payroll and payables using a different computer software program than the Town Office staff uses. Currently, school payroll and payables are done at the Town Office.

Residents also voted to transfer $216,000 from the town’s undesignated revenue account to the schools’ general fund. Selectmen voted previously to put the article before voters to offset a state penalty for the town voting not to consolidate with neighboring SAD 36.