LIVERMORE FALLS — Selectmen set the proposed 2014-15 town budget at $2.45 million, $5,670 less than this year.

A public hearing on the spending plan will be held at 6:30 p.m. April 28 at the Town Office. The referendum vote is June 10.

If a budget plan, not yet developed, for the tax-increment financing district program passes at a future special town meeting, it could reduce the proposed municipal budget by a total of $17,917, Town Manager Kristal Flagg said.

Selectmen and Flagg propose to factor into the TIF budget 10 percent of Flagg’s salary, 5 percent of the treasurer’s salary, and a portion of the money the town normally pays to Androscoggin Valley Council of Governments and Greater Franklin Development Corp.

If voters approve the TIF budget, the savings from those changes would be used as revenue to offset the tax commitment when it comes time to set the tax rate, Flagg said. That would reduce the proposed town administration budget from $203,203 to $194,492, she said.

The initial proposal for the town budget was $2.29 million and reflected an increase of $39,353.

However, Selectman Kenny Jacques suggested that the $45,000 proposed to be carried over from the municipal solid waste budget to do two projects at the Transfer Station next year be used instead to offset the municipal waste budget.

It decreased that budget from $110,000 in the current year to $65,000 next year.

It also brought the overall proposed budget for the town down to be $5,670 less than the current budget.

“My goal from the beginning is to stay the same as last year,” Jacques said of the budget.

The lower budget and changes are an effort by town officials to keep the tax rate at $20.80 per $1,000 of value. The rate has stayed the same for four years, Flagg said.

She is concerned about the possible need to use some money from the town’s undesignated fund to offset the effect of the RSU 73 school budget on taxpayers, and to keep the tax rate the same, she said.

Some of the money allocated from the undesignated account last year will not be used and can go back into the account, she said. The $15,000 voters approved to transfer to hire a tax-increment financing consultant can be taken out of TIF funds, Flagg said. The $32,000 allocated from the fund for a sidewalk on Park Street to continue the Foundry Road bike/pedestrian path may also go back into the fund and be taken out of the TIF account, she said.

Flagg and selectmen said they want to try to avoid taking money from the surplus account, if possible.

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