Voters passed South Portland’s school budget Tuesday and approved borrowing to renovate three schools and make sewer improvements.
The $5.8 million school renovation bond passed with nearly 57 percent of the vote. The bond will fund safety upgrades at Memorial and Mahoney middle schools and South Portland High School, where deteriorating conditions have drawn attention from regional education officials.
School officials said the upgrades would be important safety measures – ones made essential by a warning from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
The association has threatened to revoke the high school’s accreditation if it does not improve its facilities.
The total cost of the 20-year bond, with interest, will be about $8.6 million.
Opponents said the department should have paid for renovations with cash reserves and focused the improvements on the high school.
Also Tuesday, voters:
• Approved the school department’s $39.5 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 by a ratio of almost 2-to-1. The budget will trim spending by nearly $498,000 and will not cause a property-tax increase.
• Approved a plan to borrow $3 million for renovations to the Long Creek pump station and other sewer system improvements. About 60 percent of the voters supported the bond.
• Supported an effort to amend the city charter, but turnout was too small to officially approve the change.
The change would let the city participate in state revolving loan programs, one of which city officials hoped to tap for the pump station improvements.
About 64 percent of voters supported the change, but just under 2,100 people voted. Passage required at least 3,165 votes on the question – 30 percent of the turnout in the 2006 gubernatorial election.
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