By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

The third time was the charm for a proposed $19.8 million, 5.3 percent increased school budget that more than 1,400 Cape Elizabeth residents approved in the third school budget validation referendum the town has had since May. Combined with council approved municipal budget, the 5.3 percent increase will increase taxes by 98 cents per $1,000 of assessed value or 5.98 percent higher than last year. 

The 5.3 percent budget has been considered a “compromise” by many councilors and residents after an original 4.2 increased budget was rejected by voters who, according to a second advisory question on the ballot, thought it was too low and a 6 percent increased budget was rejected last month for being too high. 

“We just told people to vote yes,” David Hillman, resident and member of Cape Elizabeth’s Citizen Advocates for Public Education group said. “Just get it done.”

The citizen’s group encouraged residents to vote “No, Too Low” during the original referendum for a 4.2 percent increased budget.

The 5.3 percent increased school budget  was approved in a 2 to 1 marginal vote, receiving 1,425 “Yes” votes and 731 “No” votes and for the third referendum, the town council approved the addition of a third option for voters to weigh in on their opinion of the proposed budget: they could chose “Too High,” “Acceptable,” or “Too Low.” 

According to preliminary results from the referendum Wednesday morning, 850 voters said they still thought the 5.3 percent budget was too high, 717 considered it too low more than 540 thought it was acceptable. Hillman said he disagreed with some people who thought the advisory question results meant a majority of residents believed a 5.3 percent increase was too high.

“Only 850 thought it was too high, more than 1,200 thought it was acceptable or too low, you can’t separate the two,” he said. “We’re quite pleased with the results.”

Hillman said he believed the only reason the 6 percent increased budget referendum failed by 44 votes on June 22 was because most residents were on vacation. 

“People were over-confident in the second vote,” he said. “We should have a vote when a majority of people are here.”

According to results gathered from the town clerk, more than 3,100 residents voted in the first referendum featuring a 4.2 percent increased budget on May 27 and 2,238 voted during the 6 percent increased budget referendum last month, which is approximately 100 more voters than those who traveled to the polls on Wednesday.

Unlike the formerly proposed 6 percent increased budget, a 5.3 percent increase as prepared by Superintendent Alan Hawkins does not allocate funding for an annual field trip to Camp Kieve or salaries for a full time Curriculum Director and a part time Technology Technician – a combined savings of more than $113,000 for the upcoming school year. Hawkins said the accepted budget also does not include more than $40,000 for a school psychologist but he believed one would remain available for the students through a state funded program. The 5.3 percent budget does, however, increase spending for energy costs by $25,000 to address what Hawkins called a “growing concern” about heating and energy costs this academic year.