DEER ISLE, Maine — Local school officials are hoping the third time will be the charm in getting an approved annual school budget for the Deer Isle-Stonington consolidated school district.
Twice, the district has held votes for local residents on the proposed 2015-16 school budget, and each time it has ended without success.
Mark Jenkins, superintendent for School Union 76, which includes the Deer Isle-Stonington school district, said Tuesday that a referendum validation vote planned for Tuesday, July 21, was cancelled after school officials found out that a July 15 meeting to approve the school budget had fallen short of state standards.
School officials had proposed a $6.9 million annual school budget, but voters at the meeting amended the figure to $6.5 million. The reduction was fine, Jenkins said, but the meeting adjourned without residents voting on the remaining school budget items on the warrant, which invalidated the votes held before the adjournment.
“Procedurally, the meeting kind of fell apart,” he said. “Basically, we have to start all over again.”
At a prior referendum in June, residents of the district had rejected a previously proposed budget of more than $7 million, Jenkins said.
So, the district school board now has to schedule another meeting to hold a vote and then, if a budget receives initial voter approval, a subsequent referendum to validate that vote, the superintendent said.
Jenkins said the board was planning to meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 22, at Deer Isle-Stonington High School to come up with a new budget proposal.
Given the voters’ support on July 15 for a $6.5 million budget, he said, the board is likely to at least consider drafting a proposal for that amount. But Jenkins stopped short of predicting how much the next proposed budget might be.
