Voters appear to have rejected Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12’s $26.5 million budget in a referendum on June 28.
Results show voters from seven of the district’s eight towns rejected the budget with 384 votes in favor, 394 votes against. Unconfirmed results from Windsor reported in the media are 25 for, 74 against, which would shift the total to 409 for, 468 against.
Though not all five Lincoln County towns in RSU 12 – Alna, Somerville, Westport Island, Whitefield, and Wiscasset – passed the budget, total votes on the budget in those towns are 348 votes for, and 260 against.
Westport Island stood out as the strongest supporter of the budget – and the highest voter turnout – with 167 for to 61 against.
All eight towns voted in favor of continuing the budget validation referendum process, a total of 554 votes for and 313 against.
Not all results are in on a non-binding question on voters’ opinion of the RSU’s budget, but votes cast in Wiscasset, Somerville, Whitefield and Wiscasset show nearly 60 percent of voters find the budget to be too high. 210 votes were cast for too high, 83 were cast for ‘about right,’ and 58 were cast for ‘too low.’
Read more on the RSU 12 budget vote in the July 4 edition of The Lincoln County News.
