LISBON – In a special meeting Tuesday, the Town Council agreed to a revised $14.57 million budget that restores programs that were cut earlier.
The move comes after public comments at Saturday’s hearing.
At a meeting after the hearing, councilors asked the School Committee to go through the budget again and find up to $180,000 to pay for a school resource officer, and foreign language, art and sports programs.
The committee was able to come up with $160,000 by cutting a professional staff day, returning a student in an out-of-district placement to the local school system, eliminating a School Committee trip to a national conference, cutting field trips and charging students for advance placement exams.
Councilors voted 4-2, with Dale Crafts and Gina Mason opposed, to add the $180,000 to the budget and a total spending plan of $14,569,910.
Voters will go to the polls May 20 to accept or reject the budget.
Also included on the ballot will be a nonbinding question asking those who vote against it if it was “too high or too low.”
If the budget is rejected, the committee will develop a new one and send it to referendum again.
With the town budget, councilors are still looking at ways to cut and are considering several scenarios, Town Manager Steve Eldridge said. Options include no new public works truck and miscellaneous equipment, no new solid waste container, and cutting some work at the MTM Center.
Final action on the town budget will take place on May 27, Eldridge said.
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