JAY — The Regional School Unit 73 board of directors requested Thursday that the superintendent of schools reduce the proposed 2026‑27 budget by $200,000 before it goes to voters.
Superintendent Scott Albert had already cut $602,862 from the requests administrators submitted for the coming school year.
Although the board asked for a $200,000 reduction, Albert said in an email Friday that he actually needs to find $226,500 in cuts to cover a required payment for a new bus.
With the reduction, the budget going to voters would be $26,638,393, an increase of $629,039 over the current budget.
The vote on a motion by Director Holly Morris of Livermore was 8-5 in favor of the $200,000 cut.
Danielle Brotherton of Jay, Elaine Fitzgerald of Jay, Sarah Jamison of Livermore, Phoebe Pike of Livermore Falls and Andrew Sylvester of Livermore voted against the reduction.
Voting for the cuts: Jodi Cordes of Jay, Tanya DeMillo of Jay, Dan Emery of Livermore Falls, Tammy Ferrari of Livermore Falls, Michelle Moffett of Livermore Falls, Morris, Dawn Strout of Jay and board Chair Shari Ouellette of Jay.
Albert is to present proposals for new cuts at a special board meeting Thursday, March 5.
Introducing her motion, Morris said, “We have some big purchases coming up, and we really need to tighten our belts.”
RSU 73 plans to replace the boiler system and install a new roof at Spruce Mountain Primary School in Livermore.
Before the board voted to cut $200,000, it voted down a motion by Fitzgerald to approve the $26,838,393 budget that Albert had presented and that the board had reviewed during meetings Feb. 5 and Feb. 12.
Voting with Fitzgerald for the full budget were Brotherton, Emery, Jamison, Pike and Sylvester.
The seven no voters were Cordes, DeMillo, Ferrari, Moffett, Morris, Ouellette and Strout.
If the directors approve a budget with the requested cuts, school spending would increase 2.4 percent over this year’s budget. That level is lower than the 3.1 percent inflation rate in the Northeast and the 2.7 percent national rate.
Albert said the district’s state subsidy is tied in part to how much it raises from local taxpayers. To receive about $16 million in state funding through the Essential Services and Programs formula, RSU 73 must raise nearly $5.5 million locally, he said. If local taxes go down, the state subsidy also drops.
Ouellette asked the board to cut at least $400,000 from the budget. Like several other directors, she wanted to add the cost of one year of esports. No one moved the $400,000 cut, but Pike suggested that if directors gave up their $25‑per‑meeting stipend, the district could save enough to restore esports for the year.
Albert said any director who wished could donate the stipend back to RSU 73, noting that several had done so in the past.
When Ouellette proposed $400,000 in cuts, Albert responded, “The only way to cut $400,000 is to cut jobs.”
Pike, who voted for the no‑more‑cuts budget, said, “If we send out a budget and it gets voted down, we (the directors) are legally obligated to make cuts. If we cut everything to bare bones now, what bone are we going to cut into later?”
She called the process “death by a thousand cuts.”
No specific suggestion for cuts came to a motion or a vote. Ideas included merging the middle school and high school libraries.
Pike noted that a combined library would put books appropriate for 18‑year‑olds in the same space as books for 11‑year‑olds, creating concerns about age appropriateness.
Directors also suggested deferring some athletic purchases, including uniforms and equipment, but they never brought that idea to a vote. Albert had already cut $29,000 from athletics and transportation to athletic events earlier in the process.
Fitzgerald suggested asking the sports boosters to contribute more to the athletic programs. She said the boosters at Leavitt Area High School, which serves students in Turner, Greene and Leeds, had paid for the ski teams to travel to a meet in Fort Kent.
Several directors said the cuts “should not affect kids,” but Sylvester countered, “If we’re going to make cuts, it’s going to have to be people.”
DeMillo, who voted for the $200,000 cut, said, “We can cut without cutting teachers and educational technicians.”
She proposed eliminating the dean of students positions at the primary school and the elementary school.
“Do we really need two administrators in each school?” she said.
The board did not bring her idea to a vote.
Albert also showed the board what the original $26.84 million budget would mean for property taxpayers in each town. The owner of a $200,000 home in Jay would pay about $120 more, a $200,000 home in Livermore would pay another $234 and a similar home in Livermore Falls would pay $82 more.
The board’s vote Thursday reduced those figures. In an email exchange about the vote and whether he had developed plans for cuts, Albert replied with a poker-faced emoji and said, “My intent is for no one to lose their job.”
Final approval is a three-step process. On March 5, the board would approve a final budget. On March 12, the board would certify the warrants for the annual budget referendum. The referendum, during which voters would consider the budget, would be April 2.
Correction: A list of school board members used by Monitor Local named Anna Moffett as one of the board members when it should have listed Tammy Ferrari. As such, references in this story to Anna Moffett have been changed to Tammy Ferrari.
