On Tuesday, April 26, voters will go to the polls to vote on validating the Regional School Unit 73 budget for the 2016-17 school year.

Jay residents will vote at the Community Building, while Livermore Falls and Livermore residents will vote at their town offices. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Two questions will be asked of voters:

Article 1: “Do you favor approving the Regional School Unit No. 73 budget for the upcoming school year that was adopted at the latest Regional School Unit budget meeting?”

Article 2: “Do you wish to continue the budget validation referendum process in Regional School Unit No. 73 for an additional three years?”

Every three years, voters are required to consider whether the school budget validation referendum process will continue.

A yes vote on Article 2 would require RSU 73 to continue to conduct a referendum to validate its annual school budget for the next three years.

A no vote would discontinue the budget validation referendum for at least three years. The school budget would be adopted at a meeting of the voters of RSU 73.

At the last RSU 73 budget meeting, voters approved an $18.8 million spending plan for fiscal year 2017. The budget included an 8 percent increase, including $60,936 for health benefits. 

If voters approve the budget, the assessments to each town would be:

* Jay, $8.59 million, a decrease of $373,503 from this year;

* Livermore, $1.89 million, a decrease of $53,326; and

* Livermore Falls, $1.63 million, an increase of $8,030.

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