LIVERMORE FALLS — Residents next Tuesday will consider using $150,000 from the undesignated fund to offset an increase to the property tax rate.

The proposal will be put to a vote at a special town meeting scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. Sept. 3 at the Town Office.

The meeting is also expected to include a public hearing on state-proposed road construction on Route 17, from the bridge at the intersection of Route 4 to Shuy Corner at the intersection of Routes 17 and 133.

The cost of replacing sewer lines and the Livermore Falls Water District lines will also be discussed.

The town’s tax rate is $21.60 per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Selectmen voted Aug. 20 to use $150,000 from the $1.9 million undesignated fund balance to reduce the latest property tax increase. Voters have the final say on transferring municipal funds.

Even with the redistributed money, taxpayers are facing about a $1 increase that would bring the tax rate to about $22.60. The actual rate will be set following the town meeting.

The town is also facing a $64,212 increase in its share of the Androscoggin County budget, according to Town Manager Stephen Gould.

Meanwhile, the town’s assessment for Regional School Unit 73 is up $247,794, or about 14%.

In April, voters in Livermore Falls, Livermore and Jay passed a $19.6 million budget for RSU 73, an increase of more than $760,000.

“One of the major reasons the budget went up was because we did not have carry-over money to use to offset this year’s budget,” RSU 73 Superintendent Scott Albert said.

Between special education costs that were not foreseen and the $447,402 cost of a new roof at Spruce Mountain Elementary School in Jay, the district only had $10,000 it could carry over, according to Albert.

The spending plan for RSU 73 includes $195,000 for a contingency account, a $107,000 increase in special education costs and $66,000 to help pay the former superintendent’s salary and benefits.

Another factor that will hit Livermore Falls taxpayers in their pocketbooks: The cost-sharing formula adopted a few years back, according to Albert.

The school board previously voted to move from basing assessments for each town on 100 percent valuation to basing them on 80% valuation and 20% student population.

“If we had remained under the old formula, it would have lessened what (Livermore Falls) taxpayers had to pay this year by just under $100,000,” Albert said.

The town’s state revenue-sharing, meanwhile, has increased $102,339, according to Paul Binette, an assessing agent with John E. O’Donnell & Associates of New Gloucester.

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