BINGHAM — Residents of School Administrative District 13 in Bingham and Moscow will vote again today on the proposed $3.1 million school budget for the coming year.

Voters rejected the same spending package by just four votes at referendum June 12 after having approved each article at the annual budget meeting a week earlier.

Under state law, two public votes are necessary to ratify a school budget. The first vote comes at the annual budget meeting. The second one is a budget validation vote by secret ballot at the polls.

Superintendent Virginia Rebar said residents approved budget articles last week during the second budget meeting.

Today they go to the polls again.

“All the figures are the same as the first budget,” Rebar said Monday. “Nothing was cut or changed.”

Polls will be open today from 1 to 7 p.m. at the Quimby School gymnasium in Bingham and at Moscow Town Hall.

The total that each town has to raise in local taxes for the 2012-13 budget is $696,627 for Bingham, with a population of 962, and $933,352 for Moscow, with a population of 512. Rebar said the local assessment is more for Moscow because of higher state property valuations.

That total in local taxes for the coming year is $324,600 more than the current budget, Rebar said.

The effect on the towns’ tax rates will not be known until the school spending figures are added to municipal spending and the towns’ shares of the county tax, Rebar said.

“I don’t have a crystal ball, but I certainly hope that we can get this done and then move on with getting ready for the next school year,” she said.

The increase in the local contribution is the result of a combination of factors, including increases in unemployment, worker’s compensation and retirement costs, according to Rebar.

Several education technician positions were cut from the original budget proposal, as was a $2,000 stipend for the athletic director and hours for food service employees were reduced. Stipends also were cut for coaches in track, middle school and varsity cross country and middle school baseball. A foreign-language teaching position at the high school will be cut to half time if the budget is approved, as will a high school special education teaching position.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com