AUBURN — Voters overwhelmingly supported a $40.7 million school budget Tuesday, 1,515 to 599.

“I just think it’s very important that Auburn keeps up its schools,” said Charlene Belanger of Ward 1. “It’s one of the most important things we can do for the city.”

Belanger said she also voted to have just one budget-approval vote, but she was in the minority.

The current two-vote process was supported by 1,437 voters, compared to 651 against.

Belanger said she’s a fan of leaving the decisions to elected representatives — in this case.

“We elect a City Council and School Committee and I wish we had some faith in them,” she said. “If we don’t have faith, then we should elect someone else.”

Emily Kane said she voted for the school budget but she thinks it’s too low. She also opted to end annual budget validation votes.

“I think the ones inclined to vote are the ones not inclined to support investing in our schools, and I don’t think we invest enough as it is,” she said.

Matt Logue said he voted for the school budget but still thinks it needs to be higher.

“I will always say it’s too low,” Logue said. “I think that’s where the money really needs to go. That needs to be one of our top priorities, if not the top.”

But most voters Tuesday didn’t agree.

In an advisory vote, 25 percent agreed that the 3.8 percent budget increase was too small, 44.3 percent said it’s just right, and 31 percent said it was too high.

Dave Grund of Ward 2 felt it was too high. He voted against the budget, saying the department didn’t do enough to convince voters the numbers were where they needed to be. A former School Committee member with relatives who work at the schools, Grund said he normally supports the schools.

“My income is not going up almost 4 percent,” Grund said. “I didn’t investigate it myself, so I can’t see if there’s a need for increased personnel or if there has been a bubble of people coming to the schools. I can’t question the legitimacy of the request. But I don’t have that kind of money anymore and I have to figure out what I’m going to do with my own money.”

Fran Chamberland of Auburn said she gave the budget some hard scrutiny but ultimately supported it. It’s a fair number, she said, but she still wants the schools to get voter approval for the budget each year.

As it stands, the school budget represents a $76.50 increase in the tax bill for a property assessed at $150,000.

A roughly $1.5 million increase in the budget goes to raises for 500 employees, building supplies, a part-time prekindergarten teacher, an English Language Learner teacher, a high school education tech and a new bus.

staylor@sunjournal.com

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