Sean Moran holds his daughter, Clover, on Tuesday morning as he fills in his ballot for the Lewiston school budget at Longley School in Lewiston. According to City Clerk Kathleen Montejo, there were more voters by midmorning than two previous votes on the budget. “I’m not sure if more people are turning out or they are just coming in early to beat the afternoon heat. We’ll see when we hand count the votes at 8 tonight,” she said. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

LEWISTON — Voters passed the school budget on the third attempt Tuesday, 1,230 to 1,033.

The 2,264 who cast ballots was more than the first vote in May.

In a statement Tuesday night, Superintendent Jake Langlais thanked voters for turning out and passing the budget, along with the City Clerk’s team who worked the election.

By 2 p.m., about 1,000 people had voted and 371 absentee ballots had been returned, according to City Clerk Kathy Montejo. That was already more than the roughly 1,100 people who voted in May. Roughly 3,300 voted during the second referendum June 11.

Lewiston School Committee Chairwoman Megan Parks, left, checks in Tuesday morning with longtime election worker Pat Crowell for a ballot to cast her vote for the school budget at Longley School in Lewiston. “I hope it finally passes this time,” Parks said. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Voters originally rejected a $111.47 million budget. After further reductions, voters again rejected the roughly $110.34 million new proposed budget at that time. After the third round of budget revisions, the School Committee put forward a roughly $109.64 million budget Tuesday. The latest budget used more funds from the School Department’s fund balance to offset local taxation.

Taxpayers will be responsible for roughly $30.59 million of the current proposed budget, while the rest of the money will come from the state or other School Department revenues, according to Langlais.

Most people showed up to vote in the morning, deciding to beat the heat early, Montejo surmised. Longley School gym was filled with fans to help keep election workers comfortable.

Sue Leblond, a teacher in a different school district showed up to vote Tuesday afternoon to support students and teachers, she said. She hopes to see the budget pass this time. She said she thinks the community does not understand what is going on inside classes. She voted in the second budget referendum but not the first one.

John Smedley also voted to approve the budget and support education in the city, he said.

Rene Tassinari thinks teachers are unappreciated, which is why he turned out to vote, he said. This is his first budget vote this year but he usually votes on the school budget every year.

Lewiston voters check in Tuesday morning to cast ballots on the school budget at Longley School. According to City Clerk Kathleen Montejo, there were more voters by midmorning than the two previous budget votes. “I’m not sure if more people are turning out or they are just coming in early to beat the afternoon heat. We’ll see when we hand count the votes at 8 tonight,” she said. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Karen Morris-Arsenault also voted in favor of the school budget because she feels all students have a right to a free education, she said. They are the future and a good education can pay off in more than one way, she said. “Educate them today to keep them off the streets tomorrow,” she said.

Charles Soule said many people decided to vote it down because of an expected increase in taxes coming from the property revaluation, exemptions no longer available to older property owners. Also, the school budget increase will put further strain on local property owners, which is about the only thing residents have direct control over, he said.

He said he would have liked to see more cuts to positions that were added using pandemic-era federal funds, which are no longer available, and more information about the budget in general.

Danny Cote said he also has concerns about the strain that school budget increases will have on local property owners. Property taxes went up by $400 this year on is three-bedroom ranch home. He said the school district should cut positions from the top before cutting teaching positions.

For Mary Robinson, who did not want to share how she voted, said the situation was difficult. On one hand, she said it’s important to support education for students such as her special-needs son and his peers. On the other hand is the financial pressure it will place on property owners and those who rent.