RANDOLPH — Voters shot down a second proposed Kimball Library budget on Tuesday, with the start of its fiscal year already underway as of Wednesday.
By a vote of 471 to 453, Randolph rejected the $491,000 revised library budget, $402,000 of which would have been raised by property taxes.
The original proposal brought forth by the Selectboard on Town Meeting day, was an 8% increase from last year, at $458,000.
Voters rejected it, 507-451.
On Jan. 29, hours after the Selectboard approved the budget to go on the March ballot, library director Amy Grasmick discovered errors, such as that it didn’t account for a staff member’s increase of hours.
But it was too late to make changes, so the budget went to voters as written, though the library trustees advised residents to turn it down because there was time to hold a second election before the new fiscal year on July 1.
Due to procedural delays, the town set this special election for Tuesday, according to Selectboard Chair Larry Satcowitz, one day before the budget would go into effect.
After the Town Meeting day vote, library trustees resubmitted their original request of $529,000, a 22% increase from last year, with $440,000 to be raised by taxes. The trustees opted to take no position on the revised budget put to voters on Tuesday.
Details about a third budget vote and how the library will operate until then are to come.
