Lewiston Voters Reject Nearly 13 Percent Property Tax Hike for $110 Million School Budget

On Tuesday, Lewiston residents voted down a $110 million school budget that would have raised the school portion of the property tax rate by nearly 13 percent.

This marked the second time that Lewiston voters rejected a proposal from the town for the school district’s FY25 budget.

When residents first considered a proposal from the district in May, more than 65 percent of those who turned out to the polls rejected the budget as it was then written.

According to the unofficial results of Tuesday’s election published by the town, the new draft of the school budget was defeated by a margin of 243 votes, with 45.97 percent of voters supporting the proposal and 54.03 percent opposing it.

[RELATED: Lewiston Voters to Decide on School Budget That Would Hike Property Taxes 13%]

The budget on which Lewiston residents voted Tuesday was a pared-down version of the proposal with which they were presented earlier this year.

That original draft of the budget was 9.29 percent more expensive than that which was approved for FY24 and would have increased the school property tax rate by more than 18 percent.

The budget rejected by voters Tuesday was 9.2 percent more expensive than last year’s budget and cost just over a $1 million less than the proposal considered by voters in May, as local officials brought the total price tag down from $111.47 million to $110.34 million.

This cost increase compared to FY24 is reportedly the result of higher staffing costs, expenses associated with the Lewiston Regional Technical Center, and Maine’s new family leave law requirements.

[RELATED: MDOL Now Accepting Public Comment on Proposed Rules for Paid Family and Medical Leave Program]

It was also reported that the cost of sending “students with severe cognitive, physical and/or other disabilities” who cannot be properly supported by the public school system to “special purpose private schools” has increased significantly since last year as well.

Additionally, the district has struggled with the coming loss of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funding.

ESSER was originally launched in the wake of the pandemic and was designed to “address diverse needs arising from or exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, or to emerge stronger post-pandemic, including responding to students’ social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs and continuing to provide educational services as States and school administrative units (SAUs) respond to and recover from the pandemic.”

“We need to get back to work,” Superintendent Jake Langlais said in a statement after the results of Tuesday’s election were made public. “We are hopeful the process will be rooted in our mission, vision and strategic priorities.”

“At times when budgets fail, it stirs up emotions but it is essential we stay true to the work at hand — being the very best we can for our kids with the resources available from what hopefully will be an approved budget next vote,” Superintendent Langlais said.

According to Spectrum Local News, Langlais went on to explain that the school district will be working closely with city staff and officials to develop a time frame for revisiting the budget and scheduling another referendum.

Maine Public reported that Langlais attributed the budget’s rejection to many residents’ inability to sustain a tax increase while simultaneously managing a rising cost of living.