BIDDEFORD — They say three times a charm, but that remains to be seen on Sept. 20 when for the third time Biddeford voters will decide whether to approve the fiscal year 2013 school budget.

Although it will be the third vote, the $32.6 million budget, approved by the city council 8-1 on Wednesday at a special meeting, is the same number voters rejected at the last school budget validation election on Aug. 16. Only Councilor Michael Ready voted against the measure.

Based on this figure, the tax rate that is being committed today will be $16.54 per $1,000 of assessed property value, said Finance Director Curt Koehler.

The budget year began July 1. Because there was such a low turnout at the past two school budget validation referendums, councilors said they didn’t believe the votes cast in the last election were truly representative of what the majority of Biddeford residents want.

On June 26, about 650 votes were cast on the school budget, and earlier this month 1,000 people voted; both times the turnout was only a small fraction of the nearly 13,000 registered voters in the city.

The $32.6 million budget is about $400,000 less than the budget the council originally passed in May.

On Wednesday, responding to voters, who at both elections said they wanted a lower budget, Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray presented the council with an additional $500,000 in cuts, which the school committee approved the previous evening.

If the council had adopted the additional cuts, it would have brought the total reduction to the school budget from the original number to more than $900,000.

Prior to the council vote, several people spoke in favor of rejecting additional cuts and sending the budget that failed last time around back to the voters.

“It’s not good to cut just to cut,” said Emma James, a student and vice president of the senior class at Biddeford High School. “We need you guys to advocate for us.”

“I believe these cuts are unacceptable,” said Katie Delcourt, a BHS senior. The high school has already lost a marching band, a dive team and teachers based on previous budgets, she said. Additional cuts will “compromise education,” said Delcourt.

Mayor Alan Casavant also said he felt the additional proposed reductions were too severe.

“Don’t vote to make these cuts tonight,” said former Mayor Joanne Twomey. She said she will help advocate to the public to support the budget by going door to door.

City Council President Rick Laverriere said he had come to the meeting ready to approve the lower budget number, but after listening to students and others urging reaffirmation of the previously failed budget, he changed his mind.

Councilor Bradley Cote said he thought voters were rejecting the school budget as a direct result of a higher budget that was passed on the city side. Although residents didn’t necessarily want to cut the school budget, he said, since they couldn’t vote on the city budget, they were “taking it out on the school budget.”

Whether or not the budget is approved in September, it’s unclear what will happen.

For instance, in the version of the budget the school committee approved, one position would be eliminated, several unfilled positions would remain vacant and other positions would be combined, and/or have a reduction in hours.

Because the budget could fail again, Ray said he didn’t think he could support hiring for some of the unfilled positions. For instance, he said, he wouldn’t support filling a teaching position at Biddeford Primary School, because, being so late in the year and by following the necessary procedures, by the time someone could be hired it would be at least a month or two into the school year and would be very disruptive to students.

Many of the councilors said they would be more vocal in their support of the school budget and do a better job of advocating it to the voters, so that this time around the school budget passes.

 “We need to go back on the campaign trail again, people,” said Councilor Roch Angers.

— Staff Writer Dina Mendros can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 324 or dmendros@journaltribune.com.