PERU — The Board of Selectmen on Monday night scheduled a town meeting for June 28 to vote again on raising $72,900 to operate the town after June 30. It will be held at 6 p.m. at the old Peru school.

Voters at the polls June 14 rejected an article to raise that amount to fund town government from July 1, 2011, to June 30, 2012. The measure failed by three votes.

Former Selectman Jim Pulsifer said at Monday night’s meeting that a positive vote in 2007 on Article 28 said the town could operate on 80 percent of the previous year’s budget, if a money article failed.

Town Clerk Vera Parent said she and Selectman Kathy Hussey were advised by the Maine Municipal Association that such an article only applied for the one year. She said it should be on each year’s warrant.

Board Chairman Laurieann Milligan suggested the vote on June 14 still did not tell the board what the people wanted. “Maybe they wanted a higher number in the budget and that’s why it was voted down.”

Pulsifer said they should have all four of the failed articles from June 14 on the June 28 warrant.

Parent and Milligan emphasized that the budget had been pared down as much as possible. Milligan said she was worried that it was pared down too much.

Another article for the June 28 warrant will be on the upkeep of the old school building. Last year $13,400 was spent on the upkeep, but a lot of that was mold control, Hussey said.

The board voted to lower the amount on the article to $10,000 at the suggestion of Pulsifer.

Hussey said she wanted the building closed, but Pulsifer said it would have to be revoted by the town.

Selectman Ed Ferland agreed with Hussey. “It’s just a white elephant,” he said.

One problem with closing the building is that the water for the town office comes through the school building, Pulsifer said.

The board voted to do more research over the next year and take the issue of the school building back to the voters to see if they still want to see it used as a community center, as originally voted.