LIVERMORE — Selectpersons set the tax rate Monday night at $14.20 per $1,000 of valuation.

It is an increase of 80 cents from last year’s $13.40, Administrative Assistant Kurt Schaub said Tuesday.

The rise is due to a $112,000 increase in the town’s share of the RSU 73 budget and a $51,000 reduction in state revenue sharing, he said.

“No matter how we tried, these two amounts taken together cannot be absorbed without increasing the tax rate,” he said. “The town does not have the resources to do that.”

The higher rate means the owner of a property valued at $100,000 will see an $80 increase in taxes.

The board had the option of choosing between a minimum tax rate of $14 with no overlay and a maximum of $14.70 with an overlay of $131,496, according to Schaub’s information.

“Overlay is a cushion which is used to absorb any tax abatement that occurs over the year and which becomes the first line of defense for the town’s fund balance in the event of unanticipated events, such as an unusually harsh winter or major washout,” he said. “Unused overlay is used either to improve the town’s fund balance or to reduce the commitment in the following year.”

Schaub recommended the rate be set at $14.20 per $1,000 of valuation, which gives the town an overlay of $37,559.

He also gave the board a second scenario of a tax rate of $14.15 with an overlay of $28,101. The third scenario he said he presented was $14.25 that would provide an overlay of $46,886.

He cautioned them against reducing the overlay because it would be helpful to have when an even further reduction in state revenue sharing kicks in next year, he said.

Of the recommended $2.66 million tax commitment, 24.45 percent is for municipal government, 68.35 percent is for education, and 7.19 percent is for Androscoggin County, his information shows.

Tax bills could be in the mail as early as the end of this week, he said

dperry@sunjournal.com