Nearly 60 percent of Lisbon voters rejected a $21.3 million school budget in Tuesday’s election, marking the escalation of a taxpayer revolt in the Androscoggin County town.
It was the second rejection for the school budget this year. Turnout increased during the second election, with nearly 21 percent of voters coming out on Tuesday. The margin tightened relative to the 70 percent of voters who rejected the budget in June.
Nearly two-thirds of voters said Tuesday that the budget was too high. That came after the school board and town council had put forward a near-identical budget back in June.
Residents have been protesting against a roughly 20 percent increase in Lisbon’s tax levy, caused by years of heavy spending by the town council and a multimillion-dollar clerical error.
Officials considered the June vote to be a message to the town council over its budget — which residents cannot vote on — so they returned the budget to voters nearly unchanged.
The town council has since passed a municipal budget and acquiesced to petitioners demands of change in the town charter. Lisbon will vote in November on whether to create a commission tasked with handling charter revisions.
Councillors had hoped these measures would quell discontent. Those hopes were dashed Tuesday night in an outcome that will likely force the school board to reexamine the budget and make cuts.
Councilor Nicholas Craig said the outcome was what he expected, but not what he’d hoped for.
“I just hope that we can move forward in a way that we can still support the school and make sure the kids aren’t affected or suffering because of the dissatisfaction of the citizenry with the municipal budget side,” he said Tuesday night.
With the school year starting soon, the district will continue to operate under the prior year’s budget until residents vote through a new funding scheme.
