AUBURN — With two days left to request an absentee ballot for the June 11 school budget referendum, City Clerk Sue Clements-Dallaire said she has already given out almost six times as many ballots as she did last year.

“It’s really been a good response,” she said.

Last year, city voters cast 55 absentee ballots — with 700 total ballots cast in the budget referendum.

As of Monday, the clerk’s office had issued 294 absentee ballots for the June 11 vote. By Tuesday afternoon, they’d issued 357.

That far outpaces the 2011 school budget referendum, when Clements-Dallaire said her office issued 42 absentee ballots. Voters cast 963 ballots in total for that year’s school budget referendum.

According to state law, residents can request absentee ballots through Thursday. They have until the polls close on June 11 to return them to the clerk’s office.

The proposed budget sets school spending for the 2013-14 fiscal year at $38.4 million, a 6.9 percent increase compared to the current budget.

Combined with a $762,511 increase in state funding to the schools, the budget would increase property taxes devoted to education by $1.7 million. That’s an 11 percent increase, from $15.4 million to $17.1 million.

It would increase property taxes on a $150,000 home by $109.

Voting is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. June 11 at Auburn Hall, the only polling place for the school referendum.

Residents can visit Auburn Hall to request a ballot, or download an absentee ballot application at the city’s website, www.auburnmaine.gov, or request one by calling the city clerk’s office at 333-6601, ext. 1121.

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