LISBON — What started as a relatively quiet public meeting Tuesday on the proposed town and education budgets ended with some Town Council members saying they will not vote to pass the proposed school budget as presented and some townspeople questioning why members of the School Committee and Town Council can’t work together.

“How often has the council worked with the School Committee to answer questions that come out, so there wouldn’t be animosity?” asked Dean Willey.

Both sides claimed that while they had not met, they had reached out to each other and had not gotten answers to their questions.

Members of the School Committee said they still want to know how the council arrived at the edict in January that $600,000 must be cut from local funds going to education. Last year, that amount was $1.11 million. Tuesday night, committee members said they remained confused about why $600,000 was the target.

Councilors did not answer the question at the public hearing but have continually made the point that cuts to the municipal budget and the education budget were needed in order to prevent increasing taxes on Lisbon residents.

There is animosity, School Committee Chairman Traci Austin agreed.

Tensions arose in January when town councilors issued the directive to the School Committee. The tension has continued, with the two boards disagreeing on the use of the School Department’s capital reserve fund and the use of bond proceeds from the gym projects as sources of revenue in the school budget.

The School Committee and Superintendent Richard Green made an argument to use some of the unanticipated savings from the new gymnasium project to pay down the debt on bonds used to fund the project. So far, the project is running $502,438 under budget.

The proposed 2015-16 school budget would use $304,551 of that to pay down debt. Green said that would leave about $200,000 for contingencies, which he said is enough, considering only $40,000 in change orders have occurred in the 19 weeks the project has been underway.

Town Council Chairman Dillon Pesce said he didn’t feel it was in the town’s best interest to use the project savings when the project had yet to be completed.

“Anything could happen” during construction, Pesce said. It makes more sense to use any bond proceeds for the 2016-17 budget once the project has been completed, he said. The town would have three years to use any leftover amount.

A separate bond issued for a new track came in under-budget by $44,453. Pesce said he did not object to the proceeds from this bond being used in the education budget because that project is complete.

Green also proposed using $143,395 from the reserve fund as a source of  revenue in the upcoming budget. Green said it includes using $43,259 to pay the debt service on energy upgrades. In the future, he said, this money will come from energy savings, but it is too soon to predict for this budget.

About $40,000 of the total would be used for technology upgrades and the rest for plant maintenance and minor remodeling. There is $228,180 in the capital reserve fund, he said.

Pesce objected to the use of the funds in the budget because requests for money from this account are supposed to go before the council to be voted on. “It should be done that way,” he said.

At the end of the hearing, councilors voted 3-2 to reiterate their directive to trim $600,000 from the school budget without using the capital reserve fund or the bond leftovers, giving School Committee members a heads-up on how the council may vote on the education budget on May 12 if something doesn’t change.

“This is the second year with no increase in taxes. At some point, you will have to pay the bond debt,” Green warned townspeople, adding that the track has been used for two years without townspeople paying for it.

One more public hearing on the budgets is set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 12, at the Town Office, after which the council is expected to vote. The proposed municipal budget is $7.3 million and the local share of the proposed school budget, if carved by $600,000 as directed by the council, will be just under $5.69 million.

Once an education budget is approved by the council, it will go to the public for a vote June 9.