On Tuesday, voters in Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales rejected Regional School Unit 4’s 2024-25 school budget referendum for a second time. Above, the RSU 4 central office in Wales. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal file

WALES — Voters in Regional School Unit 4 rejected the school district’s 2024-25 budget in Tuesday’s referendum.

The second referendum yielded 337 yes votes and 514 no votes on the proposed $22.78 million budget. The figure was a reduction of nearly $600,000 from the first budget proposal.

The tally from each town is as follows: Litchfield, 151 yes, 276 no; Sabattus, 118 yes, 162 no; and Wales, 68 yes, 72 no.

District residents rejected a $23.37 million budget at the first referendum held June 11, voting 498 in favor to 813 against. The figure represented an 8.4%, or $1.79 million, increase from last year’s budget. The current budget proposal was reduced an additional 2.5%, and is 5.6% more than last year’s budget.

Voters must approve a budget twice under state law. The first approval comes at the school board public meeting, where it gets a vote by the residents who are at the meeting. The budget then goes to a referendum for a second approval.

RSU 4 Superintendent Katy Grondin said the schools were hopeful the communities would support the new budget, and said much work went into further reducing the tax impact while maintaining high quality education for the district’s students.

“Although the budget did not pass, we remain committed to working together with the community to find a solution that supports our students’ needs and respects the concerns of our taxpayers,” Grondin said.

Anticipating the budget may not pass, Grondin said the board prepared a timeline for the next budget referendum: discussions will be held Aug. 21 with an aim for a board approval on Aug. 28. The district will hold a public budget meeting on Sept. 11 and the referendum will be scheduled for Sept. 24.