LIVERMORE FALLS — Regional School Unit 73 directors Tuesday voted 11-2 to contract for bus maintenance.

The vote authorized the superintendents to remove from the proposed budget the sum of $150,534 for the district to maintain buses and to add $121,600 to pay for contracted maintenance services.

The savings in the proposed $18.28 million budget for the consolidated school system is $28,934, Superintendent Bob Wall said.

Directors Dan DiPompo and Vicki McLeod, both of Jay, opposed having the services contracted.

A Transition Committee had recommended to new directors that setting up a bus garage and hiring a mechanic and a helper for those services not be considered the first year of consolidation.

The school board also voted unanimously to have a principal at each the north and south campuses of the high school and to eliminate a middle school assistant principal position.

Jay High School Principal Gilbert Eaton would continue as principal of the north campus and Livermore Falls High School Principal James Holland would continue as principal of that school. Those appointments will come before the board in the future.

Jay Middle School Principal Scott Albert said he would be able to handle the school with the help of an added students services assistant to take care of detentions and other day-to-day tasks. The proposed decrease in the budget for that change is $46,714.

Wall said Livermore Falls Assistant Athletic Director Sally Boivin will work with Eaton to continue to provide those athletic coordination services.

Directors also voted to approve changing the proposed special education administration. There would be one special education director and a half-time assistant director serving all schools. That person would also work as a half-time assistant principal at the Livermore Elementary School.

There will be specialized special education programs in that school that will add 21 students from Jay Elementary School to that student population.

Livermore Falls Middle School Principal Robert Kahler would become the principal of the Livermore Elementary School. That appointment would also come before the board.

The administrative assistant to the special education director is federally funded and there is no impact on the budget or taxes, Wall said.

The administrative assistant to the assistant special education director supports the billing for Medicare, Wall said.

This year her work provided more than $120,000 in outside funding that would not be available if this position is not supported, he said.

The cost for the position is $36,941, he said. There is about an $83,059 gain that is not funded by the budget, he said.

The board also voted 12-1, with Tammy Frost of Livermore Falls opposed, to factor in the budget up to 2½ percent wage increases for the central office staff, excluding the special education director, who has a three-year contract with Jay.

Wall and Assistant Superintendent Sue Pratt will make those adjustments to the proposed budget prior the next budget review meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 18, at the Jay Middle School cafeteria.

dperry@sunjournal.com