LISBON — The Town Council voted 4-3 Tuesday night to present a $15.18 million school budget for 2015-16 to voters Jan. 12.
It will be the fifth attempt to pass a budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1.
Allen Ward, Kasie Kolbe and Normand Albert, who were elected in November, voted against the proposal. Voting for it were Chairman Roger Bickford, Dale Crafts, Eric Metivier and Christopher Brunelle.
Bickford said it is too late to change the date of the referendum but he is optimistic that if the budget is defeated the council and School Committee were close to agreeing on an amount.
The council’s proposed budgets were defeated in June, August, September and November, each time with voters saying it was too low.
Should the budget be defeated in January, the next referendum would be in March.
Workshop to develop a budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year will begin in February. Under charter rules, the School Department operates with the last budget approved by the Town Council until a budget is approved by voters.
The budget battle has centered on including money left from the more than $4 million high school gym construction project in the school budget. The School Committee wanted to use it all, but the Town Council wanted to use only some of it.
In November, the School Committee included $304,551 left from the gym project in its proposed budget. The council voted to include only $154,237, because it learned legally it could only use the proceeds to pay down the interest on the gym and track loans.
This time around, the School Committee included the $154,237 and it found other revenue, which helped close the gap without the council giving it more money.
Another point of contention has been the council’s directive in January to cut $600,000 from additional local funds for education. The School Committee has refused the directive.
| Date | School Committee recommended | Town Council proposed |
| Jan. 12 | $15.27 million | $15.18 million |
| Nov. 3 | $15.27 million | $15.03 million |
| Sept. 22 | $15.27 million | $15.03 million |
| Aug. 11 | $15.30 million | $14.88 million |
| June 9 | $15.33 million | $14.93 million |
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