SCARBOROUGH — A $70.3 million school and municipal budget won approval from the Town Council on Wednesday.
The budget passed by a vote of 5-2, with Councilors Ronald Ahlquist and Jessica Holbrook opposed.
The new property tax rate would increase 3.95 percent to $12.63 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.
The Town Council accepted recommendations from its Finance Committee to extend a 2 percent raise to part-time employees and increase funding for outside agencies to $57,000. Also accepted was Town Manager Tom Hall’s proposal to add $25,000 to the local circuit breaker program, for a total of $140,000. That increase was offset by reductions for natural gas and pubic work costs.
The Town Council eliminated $668,000 budgeted for a high school laptop program from the school capital improvements project budget. The elimination does not have an effect on the tax rate for the coming fiscal year because the debt service would not have started until the following year.
The $34.9 million school operating budget still needs approval from voters. The budget validation referendum will be held Tuesday.
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