WALES — Residents of Wales, Sabattus and Litchfield rejected a $22.67 million budget Tuesday for the Wales-based Regional School Unit 4’s 2024-25 fiscal year.

The vote total for the three towns was 374 in favor and 393 against, RSU 4 Superintendent Katy Grondin said Tuesday night. Wales voted 82 in favor and 68 against; Sabattus, 145 in favor, 167 against; and Litchfield, 147 in favor, 158 against.

Tuesday’s results make it the second time voters have rejected decreases from the original proposal of $23.38 million on June 11. That vote was 498 in favor and 813 against.

The second proposed budget, which went before voters July 30, was about $600,000 less at $22.71 million. The vote was 337 in favor and 514 against.

“We have been striving to strike a balance of maintaining high quality educational programming for our students while answering the call to ease the impact of the budget on the taxpayers,” Grondin said.

Grondin said the increase to local taxes under the first budget proposal would have been just over $1.42 million, but this most recent budget proposal would have been an increase of $443,053.

The RSU 4 board of directors was expected to meet Wednesday evening to propose a new timeline for a fourth vote, Grondin said. “We were very close to passing the budget (and) we are making progress towards the affirmative.”