Alna Town Clerk Amy Warner doesn’t want the town picking up the education tab on students it doesn’t have. But divorce or other factors can complicate figuring out who lives where, Warner and Regional School Unit 12 Superintendent Howie Tuttle said.

Warner took the initiative to develop ways to verify that Alna students are Alna residents; those methods are now being shared with other towns in the school district.

Tuttle on April 8 credited Warner’s efforts with helping pare the work the district has to do on residency. That’s part of the reason the district’s proposed next budget calls for reducing the central office’s clerical staff by 1.5 positions, Tuttle told Alna selectmen.

“We now have towns helping us more, with the system Amy created,” Tuttle said. “Thank you, Amy.”

Warner said she came up with the system because it just made sense to her that the town clerks should verify residency.

“We deal with the townspeople on a regular basis and keep the records for the town, so it was easy for me to verify residency on 99 percent of the school kids,” she said April 9. “Also, as tax collector, it made sense to me that this was something we could do ... and only pay for those that actually live here, especially since we now pay on a per student basis.

“I felt really surprised, but happy that (the system) was working out so well,” she said about Tuttle’s comments to selectmen.

Warner’s affidavit form calls for proof of residency including a parent’s or guardian’s homestead exemption or rental agreement; other tools, such as lists of local emergency addresses, can also help verify residency, Warner said.

“You’re part private-eye. You really are,” she said at the selectmen’s meeting.

In response to a question from Third Selectman Douglas Baston, Tuttle said he knew of no instances where the district has sought to recover tuition money from families over residency issues.

“Generally, people are not trying to deceive us,” he said. “We just need to stay on top of it, and we are.”

Five Alna residents joined town and district officials for the selectmen’s meeting, held at the fire station due to the district’s budget presentation. First Selectman David Abbott said the light turnout did not surprise him, since few tend to go to the spring budget meeting where voters from around the district can change figures ahead of the June budget referendum.

The turnout for the Alna presentation was better than in other towns, Tuttle said.

Ralph Hilton, one of Alna’s representatives to the district board, urged residents to attend the May budget meeting and keep the proposal intact.

“There’s no more things to cut here and keep the quality of education in the RSU,” Hilton said.

The district board approved the $20.3 million proposal on April 9, Tuttle said on April 10. The May 19 budget meeting at Chelsea Elementary School starts at 6:30 p.m.