JAY — Selectpersons held a public hearing Monday on a proposed $5.6 million municipal budget for 2015-16 at Spruce Mountain High School.

By state law, the hearing must be held 10 days prior to absentee ballots becoming available for 30 days.

Residents could not make changes on the proposed budget but had a chance to ask questions about the 44 warrant articles, including election of town and school officials, that will be on the ballot. The town meeting referendum will be held at the polls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 28, in the voting area at the Community Building.

Voters will have a contested race for a three-year selectperson’s term. Incumbent Pearl Cook and Terry Bergeron will vie for the seat.

Board of Selectpersons Chairman Steve McCourt is running unopposed for another three-year term. 

Michael Morrell, a Regional School Unit 73 director, is also uncontested for his bid for another three years on the school board. No one took out papers for a second three-year term.

The proposed budget is $92,656.60 more than the current budget.

During the hearing, resident Shari Ouellette, who is also an RSU 73 board member, asked to cut $50,000 from the proposed $1.3 million Public Works Department budget.

Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said no changes could be made to the proposed budget before the referendum vote. Changes could have been made when the selectpersons and the Budget Committee were reviewing and setting each budget on Feb. 24 and 25, she said.

Ouellette asked what the point of the hearing was, if no changes could be made.

The hearing is required by law, LaFreniere said.

Ouellette said it saddens her that RSU 73 has to make $200,000 in cuts from its proposed budget and the town’s budget is going up $92,656.

The town made cuts last year that are reflected in the current budget, LaFreniere said. Some of the reserve accounts eliminated last year had to be put back into the proposed budget for next year.

Selectpersons and Budget Committee members cut more than $500,000 from a proposed $6 million-plus budget prior to it going to voters in 2014. The move was made because Verso Androscoggin LLC had filed a tax abatement request to reduce its valuation by $469 million. The legal issue is ongoing.

Ouellette said the school district’s budget process allows cuts to be made during a hearing and districtwide budget meeting.

Prior to Jay consolidating with RSU 36 in 2011, both school systems had a referendum process that allowed the school board or committee to set the budget to go to voters. A public hearing was held more than 30 days before the vote to meet the absentee ballot requirement. No changes could be made during the public hearing process.

Under the school consolidation law, the voting process changed and allows for voters to approve a proposed school budget at the hearing/districtwide meeting. The amount that is set at that time, then goes to voters in a yes or no validation referendum at the polls.

At the end of the hearing, resident Al Landry said he would like to see on the ballot what voters raised for each department the year prior to the proposed budget they were acting on.

He has seen some towns do it that way, he said.

It was pointed out that there would be no explanation of the increases or decreases to go with the information, if it were on the ballot. It was noted that the information is available in the town report and at the Town Office prior to the vote.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net