JAY — The Select Board will hold a public hearing on a proposed $6.7 million municipal budget at 6 p.m. March 24 at the Spruce Mountain Elementary School gym at 12 Tiger Drive.

The proposed spending plan for 2025-26 will go to voters April 29. Polls will be open from from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the town’s section of the Community Building at Spruce Mountain Middle School at 23 Community Drive.

The budget is $607,542.36, or 9.88% more than this fiscal year. A conservative revenue estimate is $3.5 million, which is $621,458, or 21.91% more than last year. It would mean voters would need to raise $3.3 million, or about $14,000 less than last year.

The $6.7 million doesn’t include the town’s share of the Regional School Unit 73 budget or Franklin County’s assessment.

Included in the budget proposed by Select Board and Budget Committee is a per diem firefighter to work from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. If approved, there would be two per diem firefighters on duty Monday through Friday and one during the weekend. The other firefighters are on-call, paid volunteers.

The package also includes $25,000 in the town government budget line for contingency.

“The idea would be that this account could cover the whole town and could be utilized for things like unexpected retirements, separation of employment, unanticipated benefit increases, etc.,” Town Manager Shiloh LaFreniere said in January. “If an employee separates from the town and has to be paid out earned time, it can be a hit on a budget that is difficult or impossible to absorb. The same is true for other benefits. If you have an employee that takes single insurance for instance and they separate and you hire someone on a family plan, that could be a $15,000 hit to a budget.”

Rather than adding in money to each department budget to budget for these types of “what-ifs” this account could be used to cover those, she said.

It was put in the town government budget line because auditors suggested it be “housed” where the Select Board’s other expenses are, LaFreniere wrote.

There is an additional $25,000 included in the library budget to start a reserve account in case a 40-year-old boiler or the elevator breaks, among other aging equipment.

There is also a 5%-7% increase in the budget to allow the Select Board to bargain with three unions. The contracts expire June 30 and the final outcome is unknown.

In addition, selectpersons decided to raise $38,705 through taxation, which does not include $21,926 for the summer recreation program. It would cover such items as parades, recreation organizations’ liability insurances and fireworks that have been taken from the Tower/Recreation Reserve the past two years.

It is an effort to preserve the reserve fund, which has $111,548 for recreation purposes, including maintaining trails and paying for portable toilets for ball fields. Only the Spruce Mountain Ski Club donation of $750 will be taken from the reserve fund, if voters approve the amount.

A presentation to award the Spirit of America Foundation Tribute to Hollandstrong Community Foundation has been rescheduled to 6 p.m. April 14 at the Town Office so the recipients can attend.