AUBURN — Auburn voters passed the school budget Tuesday by a healthy margin.

Unofficial early returns shows the budget passed 548 to 350, City Clerk Sue Clements-Dallaire said.

In a non-binding question, 338 voters said the budget was too high, 180 said it was acceptable, 363 said the budget was too low.

Auburn School Superintendent Katy Grondin was glad that the budget passed. “That’s good,” she said.

The $39.06 million budget budget will prompt an 1.8 percent increase in property taxes.

The budget was a tough one for school officials. The Auburn School Committee wanted a higher budget to keep pace with growing special ed and other costs, but was told by the City Council it could not raise property taxes more than 1.8 percent. That meant reducing recommended spending.

“The Auburn School Department will continue to be committed to the students of Auburn. We will do our best with the resources provided,” Grondin said late Tuesday. “We will maintain high quality of education within the means that the community will support.”

Voter turnout was better than expected for a school budget referendum, which historically attracts fewer voters than other elections. Voting was steady, Clements-Dallaire said.

“I’m pleased,” she said. As of 3:30 p.m. she estimated between 500 to 600 people had voted. “It’s nice to see a good turnout.” By the end of the day, close to 1,000 voters voted, she said, about a 6 percent turnout.

Voters interviewed Tuesday gave mixed reaction to the size of the school budget. 

Margaret Baird voted no. “It’s too high,” she said.

Erwin Berg voted yes. “From what I’ve read in the paper, it sounds reasonable.”

Anthoula and Peter Day, who recently moved to Auburn, voted yes after reading the brochure mailed to households. Anthoula Day said it appears school officials made legitimate but hard decisions. “It seems like they made good choices getting the budget down to 1.8 percent,” she said.

Anita Chapman, who’s lived in Auburn all her life, voted no.

“I’m sick of it going up every year, no matter what.” After the budget was reduced, “they really didn’t give up anything,” Chapman said. “We end up paying for the officers in the schools. It’s too high.”

Edward Little music teachers William Buzza and Beth Labrie voted yes.

“We need to support the kids,” Buzza said. “For Auburn to move forward, we need a solid education program. One of the hallmarks of a good community is a strong education.”

Labrie voted for the budget even though she said it was too low, “because I don’t think we’ll get a better deal. It’s really important we have a good school system that people want to be in this area. We’ve lost students to other towns because of the condition of the high school.”

Longtime resident David Haines voted yes, saying Auburn City Councilors aren’t allowing enough money for education. Schools are the most important infrastructure in the city, he said.

“It isn’t just money. It’s putting a priority on the schools. I’ve got to hand it to (School Committee members) Bonnie Hayes and Tom Kendall” fighting for the schools for so long, he said.

When she first proposed her recommended budget in March, Grondin recommended a $40.14 million budget, a 5 percent increase, which she described as a maintenance budget.

To keep property taxes from not increasing more than 1.8 percent, reductions were made, including closing the Auburn Land Lab, shifting school police officers to the city budget, reducing building maintenance and the eliminating one technology integrator position.

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