SOUTH ROYALTON — Bethel and Royalton voters on Monday night let stand the White River Valley Unified School District’s $11.8 million budget for 2019-2020.

The gathering, with almost twice as many district residents casting ballots as turned out at the school district’s annual meeting in March, voted 121 to 67 against reconsidering the spending package.

“It was a much greater turnout this time,” Lisa Floyd, the district board chairwoman and a Bethel resident, said. “A margin of nine votes (56-47 in March) is in no way a mandate.

“This feels like much more of a mandate.”

The special meeting, which petitioners with gripes about inadequate information from the school administration and board had requested in April, started about 15 minutes later than scheduled because of the long line of voters checking in.

As they explained to the smaller gathering in March, school officials said they expect to spend $200,000 more than in the current year in the two-town district, an increase of 9.2% per equalized student to $18,304, assuming an enrollment of 589 students among all schools.

Royalton’s property tax rate will rise 10%, amounting to $250 more in taxes on a home worth $250,000. In Bethel, the tax-rate increase of 6 cents per $100 of assessed valuation would boost the hit on a $250,000 house by $150.

“That’s a very big ask for members of the community,” Andrew Jones, district board vice chairman, conceded during the board’s presentation before the reconsideration vote. “We’re asking one more year … to get to a sustainable level, so we’re not asking for this kind of rate increase in the future.”

Jones noted that much of the budget increase comes from rising health-care costs for employees and from the hiring of two teachers for new programs. He added that fewer tuition students than expected came into the newly-merged district for its first year, which officials attribute to the fact that it didn’t even have a name or a mascot for the new high school during the period that students in surrounding towns were considering where to attend high school.

In making the case for reconsideration of the bottom line, Bethel resident Louise Ferris-Burt said that taxpayers have a right to expect tighter spending as the merger takes hold.

“Last year’s budget,” Ferris-Burt said, “was way higher than anything I’d ever seen.”

David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.