BETHEL — With an eye to possible significant increases in the School Administrative District 44 budget, Bethel selectmen have voted 3-1 to put the former Ethel Bisbee School building and property up for sale, as-is, for $225,000.

There has been concern in Bethel and other SAD 44 towns in recent years about the potential withdrawal of Newry from the district, which could have a significant financial impact.

Since the old building was returned to the town by SAD 44, town officials and residents have debated whether to try to renovate it for use by the town, tear it down and use the land, tear it down and sell the land, or sell it intact. A special panel, the Ethel Bisbee Committee, was assigned to study the issue made the latter recommendation.

It calls for the following steps/criteria:

• List the property with a commercial real estate broker for one year for $225,000 or the amount recommended by the broker (whichever is greater);

• Be firm on the asking price;

• Have the town manager negotiate the Realtor fees;

• If the property does not sell within a year, the committee will reconvene to determine the next steps; and

• Dedicate the proceeds from the sale to the increase in SAD 44’s assessment to Bethel, until the funds are depleted.

The sale price was determined, in part, through consultation with a real estate agent, town officials said.

Before the committee made its recommendation, it received an unsolicited bid from Wade Kavanaugh and Beth Weisberger of The Gem to buy the property for $60,000 and renovate it for use, with $240,000 in improvements, by their other business, Gneiss Spice, as well as possibly provide space for other businesses.

It would have been eligible to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Kavanaugh. “Our offer price was low, but we were willing to restore a building in the heart of Bethel’s historic downtown, immediately return the building to the town’s tax roll and bring quality jobs to Bethel,” he said at the time in a letter to The Bethel Citizen.

Selectboard Chairman Don Bennett, who was the sole vote against the recommendation, said he would have preferred putting out a request for proposals for the building to see what bidders might do with the property.

Resident Savannah Sessions also argued against selling the building.

“We’re not building a vital downtown by building a $1 million ski house for somebody,” she said. Sessions noted that the Gehring House and Ethel Bisbee School are boarded up. By revitalizing such old buildings, she said, it would add more value later. She cited the renovated Norway Opera House, which she said houses three businesses.

But committee member Rick Whitney and Town Manager Christine Landes said the committee had struggled to come up with a means to decide what components would be important, and how to rank such proposals.

Resident Bob Chadbourne said the town “has not been in the habit of subsidizing businesses.” He also said it appeared to him at the June town meeting, when voters authorized selectmen to dispose of the building, that the overwhelming sentiment was to sell the property and put the proceeds toward reducing taxes.

Selectman Andy Whitney said the recommended plan would not prevent a buyer from renovating the building. “This to me doesn’t seem like a roadblock,” he said.

But Kavanaugh said that price would likely be prohibitive for adapting the building for business use.

“If it’s $225,000, it’s more likely the building will be torn down and the lot subdivided,” he said.