JAY — The Regional School Unit 73 board of directors voted Thursday to remove $10,000 subsidies for food service and increase the carry over amount by $30,000 to offset the reduction for the 2024-25 budget.

During the meeting, Superintendent Scott Albert also announced the budget would be reduced by $39,241, reducing the budget increase from the 6.3% originally proposed to 6.1%.

Teachers receive money based on the number of meetings attended, and a ballpark figure was used in the original budget, he noted. A recent teachers’ association survey showed how many meetings had been attended and concluded about $25,000 could be cut, Albert said.

“The other piece is a new person is taking a lesser insurance policy (with lower premiums), which wasn’t known ahead of time,” Albert said.

The board voted 6 to 4, with one abstention, to remove $10,000 subsidies that were to have come from the towns of Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls for food service, and increase the carry over amount by $30,000 to offset the reduction.

In favor were directors Lenia Coates and Robin Beck of Livermore Falls; Jodi Cordes, Elaine Fitzgerald, Tina Riley and Bob Staples, all of Jay. Opposed were Joel Pike of Jay; Don Emery of Livermore Falls; Holly Morris and Andrew Sylvester of Livermore. Phoebe Pike of Livermore Falls abstained. Directors Tasha Perkins of Livermore and Chantelle Woodcock of Jay were absent.

The amount of food service money carried over from this fiscal year that could be used to cover expenses was discussed at the Feb. 8 meeting.

“One question was what we could use that money for, we talked about debt, etc.,” Albert said. “We reached out to David Hartley (child nutrition consultant at Maine Department of Education). He shared with us that as soon as that money is appropriated by the towns and sent to us, it automatically falls under federal guidelines as it’s under food service.”

One recommendation was to not request money from the towns in order to lower excess carry over in the food service department, Albert said. The district had been notified the department’s carry over amount was too high, he stated.

Laura Merrill, food service director, said she felt strongly that towns should be asked for minimum support to cover unexpected costs and the extra things food service provides, such as a cookie or ice cream sandwich at the holidays or a bag of chips with lunch.

When Merrill took over, food service was about $240,000 in debt, Director Staples said. Merrill reduced the amount needed from the towns, he said, and if necessary the district could ask the towns for money again in a few years.

Director Riley suggested equipment installation or maintenance be moved to the buildings/grounds department if those aren’t covered in the food service budget.

Director Joel Pike suggested getting better answers to make sure everyone understands before voting. He didn’t want to have to go back to the towns after the budget is approved to request more money should something unexpected come up in food service.

“We have more money in (carry over) than is needed,” said Director Cordes, who is on the Finance Committee. “We can decide how it gets fixed later. We have to drop that amount, it isn’t going to break us.”

If money is taken out of revenue, an equal amount has to be taken out of expenses, Staples said. By adding $30,000 to the $148,192 from carry over already in the budget, the towns will not need to be asked for it, he said.

Director Pike was concerned with developing an inaccurate budget, pointing out that some budget adjustments were made without directors voting on them.

Riley asked if changes made now could be changed again if additional information came in. Albert said changes could be made until the budget warrant articles are approved.

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