Election volunteers Sally Pierce, left, and Sharon Collin wait for voters at the Cumberland Town Hall on Tuesday. Turnout was brisk, driven in part by a referendum question to approve a $53.5 million pre-K through first grade school. Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer

Cumberland and North Yarmouth residents narrowly voted Tuesday to approve a $53.5 million bond to build a new school for pre-K to first grade students.

The referendum passed by just 49 votes out of a total of 4,525 votes cast. It passed with 50.5% of the votes in the two communities, 2,287 to 2,238.

Cumberland residents voted 1,583 to 1,430 in favor of the bond. North Yarmouth residents voted 808 to 704 against it.

The new school will be built on a 2.9-acre parcel on the Greely campus.

The project also includes more than $3 million for a turf field at the high school, new maintenance buildings, four additional classrooms and updates to Mabel I. Wilson School, road configuration and traffic and parking updates. The new pre-K-1 building will have a capacity of 550 students and could be expanded to accommodate 650 students.

The bond would require a gradual annual increase to the mil rate that would take effect in 2026 and decrease starting in 2031. In 2026, the estimated mil rate effect for Cumberland will be 0.27 and for North Yarmouth will be 0.25, which equates to an increase of $27 and $25 per $100,000 of assessed value respectively, according to the school board.

District officials say the plan will allow them to stop using modular classrooms, which cost about $600,000 a year in lease payments. This would contribute to a better learning atmosphere for students and allow more open space on campus, district officials say.

In 2022, voters in Cumberland and North Yarmouth rejected a proposed $73.9 million bond to build a new primary school.

Under that plan, the district had hoped to buy a 76-acre parcel in North Yarmouth to build a new pre-K through second grade school. It also would have funded renovations at the Mabel Wilson School so it could remove modular classrooms. The bond would have increased the average tax bill by about $920.