Ellsworth School Budget Fails

By a vote of 129-105, the Ellsworth School Budget failed to gain passage by Ellsworth voters on Tuesday, June 9th. There were a total of 234 votes cast, 211 in person and 23 absentee ballots. The turnout was 4.2 % as 5300 of Ellsworth's 5,534 voters did not vote.

The Ellsworth City Council and School Board now need to meet to decide the next steps. The Ellsworth City Council will need to pass a continuing resolution, as Ellsworth's fiscal year begins on July 1st. The earliest time period to have another election is nearly a month, as there needs to be a  2 week window before the budget goes before the Council again, and ten days from the passage by the Council to election day.

The cost of the revote will be between $4500 - $5000 and that is minimized by the fact that the Ellsworth City Clerk's office will hand count the ballots (avoiding reprogramming of computers) and by the fact that the ballots are being printed by City Hall.