For the second time in a month, Scarborough voters rejected the district’s 2015-16 school budget, setting up a third vote on a new budget – most likely sometime later this summer.

Town Clerk Tody Justice reported late Tuesday that residents voted 3,584-496 to reject a proposed $43.3 million education budget.

In advisory questions intended to help town officials gauge voter sentiment, 2,047 felt the funding level was too low, 1,838 said it was too high and 177 said it was appropriate, Justice said.

The outcome Tuesday night was expected following a June 9 vote in which Scarborough residents turned down a $43.8 million education budget 1,719-1,408. In a non-binding expression of opinion then, 1,761 people said they thought the budget was too high, 619 said it was too low and 710 said it was acceptable. That proposal called for a $1.8 million, or 4.3 percent, increase over this year’s $42 million budget.

That rejection led the Town Council to cut $500,000 from the spending plan for a second attempt at validation. That reduction spawned the formation of a new Facebook group, “Supporters of Scarborough Schools” to compel the town to restore the funds. Its slogan was “Vote No, Too Low.”

The defeat was fueled by strong anti-tax opposition, promoted on a Facebook page titled, “Concerned Taxpayers of Scarborough,” with the slogan “Vote No, Too High.”

OPPOSITION FROM BOTH SIDES

The opposition from both groups placed the budget being voted on Tuesday night on shaky ground.

“There are other ways of doing this rather than just by increasing taxes,” said Judith Montgomery, a registered nurse, who has lived in Scarborough for 43 years. Approaching retirement age, Montgomery voted against the budget. “To increase the budget. That is not the way to go. What do we get in return? I no longer have children or grandchildren in the school system. What more do they want from me?”

But Stacey Neumann, a mother of three young children who started the private Facebook group “Supporters of Scarborough Schools,” says her group believes the proposed $43.8 million budget is too low.

“We believe the most recent result of the school budget vote indicates a re-commitment of our community to support and fund high-quality schools for our children,” Neumann said. “Strong, well-funded schools provide great opportunities for our students, increase our property values and create a sense of community pride.”

Andrew Gwyer, who runs the “Concerned Taxpayers of Scarborough” Facebook page, said the Town Council should “tread very lightly” because the difference between the “Too Highs” and the “Too Lows” is small.

“This isn’t a victory for the Too Lows,” he said.

The Town Council must wait at least 10 days to revise the budget before it is presented to voters again, according to a legal opinion from its attorney.

“If the voters do not validate the budget by July 1, the work of municipal government continues while the retry process is followed,” said Shana Cook Mueleer, an attorney for Bernstein Shur. “In the interim, the latest budget approved at a regional school unit budget meeting and submitted to voters for validation at a referendum is automatically considered the budget for operational expenses.”

VOTER TURNOUT WAS HIGH

Voter turnout was high for a school vote, with 26 percent of the town’s 15,500 registered voters casting ballots. With the initial school budget, the property tax rate for both municipal and school services would have increased 87 cents or 5.78 percent, from $15.10 to $15.97 per $1,000 of assessed value. That would have added $261 to the annual tax bill on a $300,000 home.

With a $500,000 reduction, the tax rate would have increased 72 cents or 4.75 percent to $15.82 per $1,000, which would add $216 to the same tax bill.

Scarborough officials learned last week that the town will receive $4.6 million in state education aid this year – $884,890 more than expected and nearly the same as last year, according to the Maine Department of Education website. Town officials developed the school budget with a conservative $3.8 million aid estimate.

However, the additional state aid has been earmarked for property tax relief, so the Town Council would have to decide to spend it otherwise.

This is the third year in a row that Scarborough has battled over its school budget through multiple referendums. The division stands in sharp contrast to most southern Maine towns, where a small fraction of the residents routinely vote to approve school budgets.

Scarborough’s budget tensions are in part of a result of rising coastal and commercial property values and shrinking state education aid, which together are driving up property taxes. Communication blunders by school and town officials, combative social media websites and a shifting town culture also have contributed to the rift.

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard contributed to this report.

Dennis Hoey can be reached at 791-6365 or at:

dhoey@pressherald.com

Twitter: DennisHoey

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