Jay selectpersons vote Monday on a proposed $169,420 professional services budget. From left are Gary McGrane, Tom Goding, Lee Ann Dalessandro, Vice Chairman Tim DeMillo and Chairman Terry Bergeron. Donna M. Perry/Sun Journal
JAY — The Select Board approved a $5.5 million municipal budget Monday to go before voters April 26 at the annual Town Meeting.
The polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Spruce Mountain Middle School.
The Budget Committee also made its recommendations on the board’s decisions, either in support or not, that will go on the ballot as well. A public hearing on the warrant articles will be held at 6 p.m. March 14 at Spruce Mountain Elementary School gym. Absentee ballots will be available at the Town Office on March 25.
For the most part, the majority of the department budgets passed unanimously and there were some mixed votes on donation requests.
Selectpersons and the Budget Committee approved the alternative Fire Rescue Department budget submitted by Fire Rescue Chief Mike Booker. The $301,139 includes money for a per diem firefighter to be at the station from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. five days a week. It is $32,239 more than Booker’s initial proposed budget of $268,900.
The overall proposed municipal budget for 2022-23 is $216,159 more than the current budget, but after factoring in revenues it will be about $79,165 less than the budget approved last year. This does not include the town’s share of Regional School Unit 73 and Franklin County budgets.
The Select Board and Budget Committee voted in support of a warrant article for a $9,000 in-kind contribution for labor and equipment to the Hollandstrong Tennis Courts next to the Spruce Mountain Elementary School.
Deb Roberts of Livermore has been trying to raise half of a proposed $413,000 tennis court rebuild in either donations or in-kind work. A grant application has been submitted. The courts have not been used in at least 10 years because of the condition, Roberts said. The RSU 73 tennis teams have to play at Kineowatha Park in Wilton, she said.
Roberts also approached the Livermore and Livermore Falls select boards for a donation of $9,000 in in-kind work from each of the Public Works departments. Those boards both declined to put the question before voters.
Roberts started the Hollandstrong Community Foundation in memory of her son, Michael Holland. The 25-year-old Merchant Marine from Wilton was one of 33 crew members who went down with the SS El Faro when it sank on Oct. 1, 2015, near the Bahamas. He was a 2008 graduate of Jay High School.
Both panels also supported an article to see if the town will vote to deposit all revenues generated by the telecommunications tower lease and any timber harvesting of the Jay Recreation Area parcel into the Tower Fund Reserve Account. It would also authorize the Select Board to appropriate reserve account funds for recreational purposes in such amount as the board deems to be in the best interest of the town.
The town had the recreation area harvested several years ago and that money also went into the fund. The area is expected to be harvested again.
The monthly lease payment for the communications tower is $1,249.41. There is about $158,o36 in the reserve account, according to Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said.
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