JAY — Voters from Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls will vote April 29 on whether to approve the almost $25.97 million budget proposed for Regional School Unit 73.

The budget was trimmed by $100,000 earlier this month from the original $26.07 million.

Voters will consider approving the budget as a whole, funding bleacher replacements at Spruce Mountain High School in Jay and keeping the approval process of a public meeting and initial vote, followed by a validation vote at the polls.

Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Jay and Livermore residents will cast ballots at their respective community centers and Livermore Falls resident will cast theirs at the Town Office.

“It’s great to see so many people in the room,” Clint Boothby, moderator of the April 10 budget meeting, said of the more than 150 people at the high school. Voters approved the $100,000 reduction and the 20 other articles on the budget document.

“The reason we are looking to cut $100,000 is because we had put in the budget 13% for Anthem health insurance,” Superintendent Scott Albert said. “We were lucky enough to have it come back as 9% so we were able to make a $100,000 cut and still keep the health insurance that we need to have.”

Jim Cyr of Livermore Falls said, “Within our school budget 70% of that budget goes to wages and benefits. If you go back to 2012 when we became RSU 73 the budget was $1,404,776. The proposed budget for 2026 the numbers I got from the town office is $2,795,365. That’s a 99.99% increase.

“I would recommend everybody here to vote no until you guys get your budget under control,” he added. “This is appalling.”

By a show of hands, the article to cut $100,000 passed by a large margin.

Article 13, which recommended raising and appropriating almost $4.58 million more than the state’s Essential Programs and Services allocation model, required a written vote. The article passed, 124-17.

Raising an additional $43,437.76 in local funds to pay the first of four annual payments to replace the bleachers in the high school also required a written vote.

When Cyr asked where the local funds would come from, Albert said from taxes.

“My understanding is the bleachers will not pass inspection any longer, they don’t make that style and they cannot get replacement parts,” Director Dawn Strout of Jay said.

“I’m a part of the Building and Grounds Committee, and this was brought up specifically from myself because there is a hazard to the bleachers that we have right now,” Director Jodi Cordes of Jay said. “I’ve seen many people almost get hurt trying to get up and down the bleachers because they are not ADA compliant. If something breaks, they are not able to be fixed.”

Multiple bids were received for the project.

“I just wanted to comment on how important this is for our disabled community,” Director Roger Moulton of Livermore Falls said. “We are not ADA compliant. These bleachers would bring us closer to that. Allow our disabled community to attend events here, so I think it’s incredibly important that we vote in favor of this.”

The vote was 128-8 to fund the first year of the project.

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