LISBON — Residents concerned about rising tax bills voted down the proposed school budget by an overwhelming majority of 724-312 at the polls Tuesday.

The roughly $21.2 million school budget proposal contained a nearly 8% increase on property taxes, driven, school officials say, by increasing costs — particularly in staff insurance.

The vote comes as the town struggles to deal with a financial hole caused last year by an accounting error in the municipal budget. Without enough in unassigned funds to cover the deficit, the first draft of the municipal budget included an increase of more than 20% in addition to any increase from the school budget. Roughly $8.75 million of that would have been raised from property taxation.

A second draft whittled that down to 11%, and the town continues to weigh significant cuts to lower the impact on taxpayers.

For many residents, it’s too much.

“I want to be able to stay in this town and if (taxes are) too high I’m gonna have to move away,” Cindy Hall said at the polls Tuesday at the Lisbon High School gymnasium. “They want to up our house insurance and up taxes on the house. Something’s gotta give and it’s not right that they make a mistake and we pay for it.”

“Why in the hell should I be paying school tax when I don’t have students in school?” Deb Duhamel said. “I don’t agree with this at all. They need to do something about this. People are losing their homes.” 

“I can’t afford my home if these taxes go up,” Olivia Mason, also a retiree, said.

“I think it stinks, and I think it’s a big hit for a lot of us,” Greg Bianconi said of the potential tax increase. “I understand the circumstances and I don’t see a way of squirreling out of it right now.” 

Another voter, Melanie Blair, said that if the town has a deficit, it needs to cut spending, not raise taxes.

“I’m shocked about the deficit that we currently have and I’m concerned about the direction our town is going,” she said Tuesday afternoon at the polls. “I want to find another solution other than having an 18-20% tax increase.” 

Other residents criticized Lisbon town government as well.

“No, too high, can’t afford it,” Brian Hess said about the budget. “It seems like we have a lot of managers who don’t really manage.”

Some residents expressed a sense of duty for coming to vote each election.

“Just exercising my constitutional rights,” said Ron Weeks.

“I vote at every election,” Jonathan Jones said.

Some residents said they wanted to supports Lisbon education through the school budget, but without a direct way to vote on the municipal budget, voting no Tuesday was the only way to register their disapproval.

“I’m trying to keep my taxes down,” said Charles Peerboom. “I hate to vote against the school budget. .. (but) it’s gonna cost some people their homes … It’s going to price people out of the town.”

A group of residents is trying to change that dynamic. The group was collecting signatures Tuesday on a petition to require the Lisbon municipal budget to go to a referendum vote each year.

Ally Aspinall was one of the residents who signed the petition.

“I’ve been involved in Town Council meetings and feel like we should be voting on municipal budget,” she said at the polls Tuesday afternoon.  

Margaret Galligan-Schmoll was reelected to the School Committee for a three year term and write-in candidate Chris Rugullies was also reelected to the School Committee for a two-year term.