LIVERMORE — Regional School Unit 73 administrators shared information on the proposed $22.169 million budget for 2022/23 with Directors Thursday, Feb. 3.

Additional budget meetings will be held Feb. 10 at the elementary school and Feb. 17 at the middle school. The District Budget Referendum Meeting is April 7 at the middle school. The District Referendum Vote will be held April 26 in the towns of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls.

The district’s overall budget for 2022/23 is up $1.42 million or 6.7% from 2021/22, Superintendent Scott Albert said.

“Special education is up 16%; 75.29% of the budget is salaries and wages,” he noted. “Benefits are 15.93% over last year.

Health insurance is up 13% to account for premium increases plus lane changes (types of coverage), Albert said. An example he shared is that with his wife no longer working, his coverage goes to full family.

Liability insurance increased 23%, Albert noted.

“We have 303 staff people, not counting coaches and substitutes,” he said. “That definitely puts us at number two, pretty close to number one size-wise for businesses or corporations in this area. Of those, 163 are residents of our three towns. We’re pretty lucky to have people close by.”

Jay was approved for sudden and severe status at the mill, Albert said. That will cause a drastic change in valuation, also changes what each town receives from the state and what each town pays, he noted.

“We will go over it with you at our next meeting, what that exactly looks like based on the budget we have presented,” Albert said. “Any changes in this budget would change those numbers. We just got the new evaluation numbers.”

Albert planned to review those numbers prior to the Feb. 10 meeting.

Establishing a capital reserve account for utilities to “help with volatility in the next couple years is being sought by Albert. For that account, $100,000 from undesignated carry over could be used, he noted.

Another article would approve $45,000 to go towards the RSU 73 tennis courts, Albert said. Similar articles were included a few years ago for bleachers and an elevator, he noted.

The memorandum of understanding for tuition students from Fayette needs to be updated, Albert said. There will be an article on that and one on choosing to continue with the district budget meeting and referendum vote as part of the April 26 vote, he noted.

Director Doug DiPasquale asked what not increasing the budget would mean.

The elimination of 13-15 reaching positions would be needed to make that up, Albert said. Teachers making $40,000 are closer to $85,000 to $105,000 if they have full family health insurance, add in retirement and the other things that have to be included, he noted.

“That would reduce our ability to get kids back to where they need to be,” Director Elaine Fitzgerald said.

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