Go and do:

What: Vote on closing high school in Livermore Falls

When: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 3

Where: Livermore Fire Station, Livermore Falls Town Office

LIVERMORE FALLS — About 25 residents from here and Livermore turned out Tuesday to hear the details of closing the high school in Livermore Falls.

A referendum to close the school will be held from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, at the Livermore Fire Station and the Livermore Falls Town Office.

If voters in both towns choose to keep it open, taxpayers in those towns would be responsible to share the $650,758.79 operating cost.

Based on current valuation, that would mean that Livermore would pay $338,394.57 and Livermore Falls, $312,364.22, Regional School Unit 73 Superintendent Robert Wall said.

If voters in one town decide to close it, then it closes, he said.

The vote will be a “yes” or “no” to the question: “Do you favor authorizing the school board of Regional School Unit 73 to close Spruce Mountain High School — South Campus?”

If the majority of voters in one town decide to close the school, then it will be closed by June 30, 2012, Wall said.

If the school is closed, the money that would have been used to operate it will be put toward other expenses in the district. The money could be used as an offset to the cost of a proposed $5.3 million addition and renovation project at the high school’s North Campus in Jay.

Residents attending the hearing questioned several issues, including where are the savings that were promised if Jay and RSU 36 consolidated.

Both Jay and Livermore Falls high schools need renovations to bring the buildings up to code, Wall said. In Jay, the cost is up to $1.3 million. That amount is included in the proposed $5.3 million for the addition/renovation project.

It is estimated that Livermore Falls school would need up to $2.7 million to bring it up to code. If both high schools are kept open the schools would eventually need to have the work done, Wall said.

A study done on the Livermore Falls school in 2008, indicated there were some major deficiencies in the building, including obsolete electrical panels, asbestos flooring, inadequate roof structure and roofing issues.

The study identified $2 million in past due maintenance. It also observed that “combining the requirements of deferred renewals, the cost of returning this facility to acceptable educational-use condition is a total of $5.7 million. This represents 95 percent of its current replacement value.”

Fewer buildings will cost less to run, Wall said.

There were considerable savings when the district consolidated the middle school, he said. That money was used elsewhere in the district.

There will be costs incurred during the transition to consolidate the high schools but in the long run there will be savings, Wall said.

The consolidation has not stopped the increase in the budget but has slowed it down, he said.

If the district restructures and plans right, the taxes may not be lowered a lot but the taxes will go up slower, Wall said.

Livermore Falls resident Clayton Putnam said he was extremely disappointed when the towns voted to close the middle school and it remained open.

“I’m going to vote to close this because I know it’s cheaper to run one house than two,” Putnam said.

Committees are studying what to do with the middle school and they will study what to do with the high school, if it closes, Wall said.

Wall said he would have information on the tax impact on each town before voters go to the polls on Tuesday, May 8, to vote on the addition.

If the addition fails, the school board has reserved the right to reopen the high school or to develop another plan to consolidate the two schools.

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