Responding to last week’s recommendation by the Cape Elizabeth Town Council to adopt a no-tax-increase school spending plan for next year, the town’s School Board voted Monday night to present three budget options to the council at its May 11 meeting.

Prior to the board’s vote, a handful of residents voiced concern about the council’s proposal to further cut the School Board’s $23.6 million budget by more than $110,000.

Resident John Voltz, who has two children in Cape Elizabeth schools, said he was “extremely disappointed in the Town Council and their decision to reject the careful, thoughtful, deliberative process of creating the School Board budget.”

Voltz has created an online petition to urge the council to fully restore the budget before sending it to voters. The petition, which went live Monday evening, can be found at tinyurl.com/fullbudget. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 40 supporters had signed the petition.

In a 5-1 vote on April 27, with Councilor Caitlin Jordan opposed and Councilor Jamie Wagner absent, the Town Council turned down the School Board’s 2015-2016 budget proposal that would pose a 7-cent increase in the town’s tax rate of $16.80.

The school board’s budget represents a 1.8 percent – or $407,014 – increase compared with this year’s budget. If approved by voters in a June referendum, the budget would increase property taxes annually by $22 for a home worth $314,000, considered the median home price in Cape.

During a two-hour budget workshop Monday, the School Board discussed how it would achieve the Town Council Finance Committee’s recommendation to reduce the proposed $23.6 million budget by $110,539.

Items slated for possible cuts include a human resources director shared with the town for $35,000; upgrades to the district’s accounting software for $50,000; website development for $10,000; equipment, supplies, maintenance and printing costs for $10,309 within the superintendent’s office, facilities and transportation departments and students and staff support; and various expenditures in all three Cape Elizabeth schools, including supplies, equipment and furniture, for $5,230.

“I don’t want to touch anything (in the budget) that has to do with direct services to kids, teachers, supplies or books,” board member Barbara Powers said.

“It’s necessary to improve our software programs,” added School Board member David Hillman. “We are basically paying checks and keeping records by hand as opposed to an electronic system.”

The School Board voted unanimously to present three alternative proposals to the council, including one that would restore the original budget. The second option would eliminate the proposal to buy accounting software for $50,000. And the third option would fully reduce the budget as recommended by the council.

Amy Stanley, another Cape Elizabeth resident, also expressed her disappointment in the Town Council’s “unexpected decision” to demand a revised budget posing no increase to taxpayers. According to Stanley, she opposes the council’s decision for substantive and procedural purposes.

“The budget that the Town Council has asked for would result in cuts to school programming and staff,” Stanley said, which “would compromise the quality of the exemplary school system that we as a community have carefully cultivated.”

She said it is the town’s “moral responsibility as a community to offer a strong educational foundation to our town’s children. I am not alone,” she said. “An average of 68 percent of voters have approved spending increases much larger than the one proposed this year for the last seven years.”

She also said the Town Council’s April 27 vote “shirks this responsibility” and “verged on procedural dishonesty,” as the meeting took place in the basement of the Town Hall, rather than the Town Council chambers, and was not captured on video.

Resident and former School Board member Elizabeth Scrifres said the council’s vote “felt like a back-door deal.”

“I was under the impression that the Town Council was making every effort to make its deliberations more open and transparent,” Stanley added. “I hope that the budget the Town Council ultimately sends to the voters is the one initially recommended by the School Board after careful consideration.”

The council at its April 27 meeting also set a public hearing for May 11 on the town budget of $9.8 million, up $570,819 or 6.2 percent over this year; a county assessment of $1.2 million, up $62,620 or 5.6 percent over this year; and a Community Services budget of $533,790, up $68,790 or 14.8 percent over this year.

The combined municipal and school budgets represent a proposed $17.11 tax rate per $1,000 of assessed valuation, which is an increase of 31 cents, or 1.8 percent, compared with this year’s budget. A majority of the increase – 24 cents – is a result of the associated costs with the Thomas Memorial Library renovation.

A public hearing will be held during the regular council meeting Monday, May 11, at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall to give residents an opportunity to comment on the 2015-2016 spending plan. Following the hearing, the council is expected to adopt a budget to send to voters in a budget referendum scheduled for June 9.