Belfast voters approve school budget

BELFAST — Voters in Belfast overwhelmingly approved the Regional School Unit  71 budget for the upcoming school year during Tuesday’s election.

The vote on Question 1 of the ballot, which dealt with approval of the proposed budget, resulted in 563 yes votes and 138 no votes; there were also 17 blank votes, for a total of 718 ballots cast.

In the town of Morrill, voters cast their ballots against approval of the proposed budget with 71 voting no, 52 voting yes, with one ballot left blank. Ironically, Morrill’s share of the new budget has the smallest year-over-year increase.

The proposed RSU 71 budget is $29,481,327.32, a 2.8 % increase compared to last year’s $28,684,417.69 budget.

Under the proposal, the state will cover $11,096,177.05 of the district’s budget, up 3.5% over last year’s state share of $10,715,280.31.

The portion of the budget allocated to each RSU 71 town increased. Belfast’s share increased by 0.4%, Belmont’s share increased by 2.9%, Morrill’s share increased by 0.03%, Searsmont’s share increased by 2.3% and Swanville’s increased by 0.7%. The total town share is $15,676,217.08, a 0.8% increase from last year’s $15,545,464.23 allocation.

Voters in Belfast also approved RSU 71 ballot Question 2, which asked voters whether they wanted to continue the budget validation referendum process for an additional three years. The vote was 491 yes votes, 194 no votes, with 33 blanks.

Morrill residents also voted in favor of Question 2 with 78 yes votes, 40 no votes and six blanks.

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