LIVERMOREFALLS — The RSU 73 board on Thursday signed the warrant for the proposed 2013-14 operating budget of $18.58 million and set the first of two public votes for its adoption.

They also appointed Lee Hixon of Auburn as the new assistant principal/athletic director for Spruce Mountain High School.

The proposed budget is about $10,000 less than the 2012-13 spending plan.

Much of the money that won’t be spent on the maintenance and operation of Spruce Mountain High School South Campus in Livermore Falls has been funneled into broader and more varied student opportunities and toward preventing a substantial increase in school taxes because of obligations the state has assigned to the school districts.

The first budget vote will be held at 6 p.m., April 9, in the cafeteria of Spruce Mountain Middle School in a district-wide, town meeting-style format. The final figure that results from that vote will be validated, or rejected, at a referendum from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 23, at the Livermore and Livermore Falls town offices, and at the Jay Community Building.

If residents approve the proposed budget, taxes on a home valued at $100,000 in Jay will decline by about 5 percent, to $756.94; for that same home in Livermore, taxes would rise by about 6 percent, to $992.53; and for Livermore Falls, taxes would go up by about 8 percent to $992.60.

Superintendent Robert Wall said the variance in school taxes among the district’s member towns is attributed to decreased or increased valuation. State valuation increased in Livermore and Livermore Falls and declined in Jay.

New assistant principal/AD

Hixon is the current athletic director at St. Dominic Academy in Auburn where he has held that position or dean of students for 12 years. Prior to that, he taught physical education and health at Auburn Middle School for 13 years. He is a graduate of the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Hixon joins newly appointed Principal Thomas J. Plourde, who began his duties earlier this month.

When classes begin for the 2013-14 school year, all secondary students from the south and north campuses will attend classes at a renovated north campus in Jay.

Wall said Hixon’s salary and contract had not yet been determined. He is scheduled to begin his new job on July 1.