Voters in RSU 16 approved a $28 million school budget by just 153 votes after rejecting two previous iterations.
This version of the budget comes in at about $388,000 less than the one voters most recently rejected.
Because an additional $500,000 allocation was made from the FY25 fund balance, however, the total cost for which taxpayers would have been responsible under this budget is actually reduced by about $888,000.
The vote is the latest in southern Maine to follow a similar pattern, in which voters reject proposed spending plans and tax increases multiple times, while officials eventually secure passage of local budgets.
According to the RSU 16 website, the recently approved budget is expected raise taxes $136 per $100,000 of value in Poland, $100 in Mechanic Falls, and $76 in Minot.
Town officials told WMTW that voters in Minot and Mechanic Falls approved the budget by fairly substantial margins, while Poland residents rejected it.
Despite the lack of unanimity, there were enough votes in support of the proposed school budget across all three towns for it to move forward.
In Minot, there were reportedly 199 votes in favor of the budget and 67 in opposition, while Mechanic Falls residents approved it by a margin of 148 to 96.
Poland residents rejected the budget by a vote of 394 to 425, with roughly 52 percent voting in opposition.
Across all three towns, the budget was approved by a margin of 153 votes, with those voting in favor representing about 56 percent of their combined population.
RSU 16 is not the only school district where residents sent local officials back to the drawing board multiple times before approving a budget for FY25.
Voters in Lewiston had also rejected their school budget twice before approving a version that carried a $109.6 million price tag and was accompanied by a 9 percent property tax hike.
Many other cities and towns also pushed their elected representatives to reduce the burden on taxpayers for FY25 before approving next year’s school budget.
For example, Westbrook residents rejected a school budget for the first time in recent history after being presented with a proposal that would have increased property taxes by nearly 16 percent.
A slightly less expensive version of the budget was approved shortly thereafter by a margin of just 138 votes.
Gorham’s $53 million school budget was approved by just two votes, resulting in a school-side property tax hike of more than 9 percent. Although it was originally believed that the budget passed by four votes, a recount later revealed that the margin was even slimmer.
[RELATED: Recount Results — $53 Million School Budget with 9.05% Property Tax Hike Approved by Two Votes]
Residents in the Oxford Hills school district recently rejected a $50.1 million budget, the second iteration upon which they have voted.
The revised budget represented a 5.91 percent increase over the FY24 school budget despite the inclusion of several staffing cuts across the elementary, middle, and high schools.
[RELATED: $50.1 Million Oxford Hills School Budget Rejected for Second Time]
A third budget referendum has been scheduled for October 8 in all towns included in the Oxford Hills District.
So far, the side supporting tax increases remains undefeated.
