Alna was a few weeks behind on a $74,000 payment to Regional School Unit 12, but money coming in from tax liens and property tax bills should soon cover it, town officials said Sept. 17.

“I don’t want to bounce it,” Alna Treasurer Aaron Miller told selectmen about why he hadn’t sent the school district a check. He brought it up as part of a short discussion on the town’s finances and accounting.

Among the topics, he recommended the town switch bookkeeping software programs to one that would remove the chance for human error.

As of Sept. 17, the town had $30,000 in a checking account and $11,000 in savings, Miller said.

Town Clerk Amy Warner said she had not heard from the district about the payment that was due Aug. 20; Miller, who is also treasurer in neighboring Whitefield, said Whitefield was once about two months behind with the district and heard nothing.

The district doesn’t charge towns penalties for being a little late, and Alna usually pays on time, so there shouldn’t be a problem, Superintendent Howie Tuttle states in text responses to questions from the Wiscasset Newspaper.

“No, no problems. However, if towns are very late then it becomes difficult to make payroll and tuition payments and other payables,” Tuttle adds.

Alna’s property tax bills were expected to go in the mail on Sept. 19. After that, Warner said she expects a large initial onslaught of payments from mortgage holders whose homeowners pay their taxes on escrow.