The polls have closed for the Damariscotta and Newcastle secret ballot elections.

As expected, the vote for Damariscotta’s school budgets were close, but in the end the town approved both the secondary school and Great Salt Bay budgets.

In Damariscotta, there were two open seats for the board of selectmen, and incumbent Robin Mayer has won reelection with 102 votes.

In the race for the seat vacated by David Atwater, who resigned earlier in the year, former selectman Josh Pinkham has been elected with 114 votes.

Pinkham didn’t run in 2014, but will serve for the next year, which represents the remaining portion of Atwater’s term.

No candidates took out election papers for the open school board for the Great Salt Bay School Board, but Brett Hollowell was elected via write-in with 35 votes.

In the Great Salt Bay sanitary district trustee vote, William Brewer was the only candidate and was elected with 114 votes.

Damariscotta voters also approved the secondary and Great Salt Bay budgets. The secondary school budget was narrowly passed, 84-60, and the Great Salt Bay budget was passed 91-54.

This year, voters were asked to absorb a substantial increase — from a $1.27 million budget in 2014-15 to $1.7 million in 2015-16 in the secondary school budget.

The special education budget saw the largest increase from one year to the next, which increased by $276,000 to $476,000. Most of that increase was focused on one special needs student who will require a specialized out-of-state schooling with a tuition of approximately $205,000.

Superintendent of Schools Steve Bailey said when voters initially passed the budget that a large portion of the money will be returned to the town from the state, and the likely price tag will be closer to $100,000.

Overall, 146 people cast ballots in Damariscotta, which represents roughly 10 percent of eligible voters. 

In Newcastle, voters reelected incumbent selectman Christopher Doherty with 105 votes. Because there were two open seats, voters had to write-in the second candidate, which means Joel Lind was voted in with 55 write-in votes.

Newcastle only had one candidate for school board, Allan Ray, who was elected with 115 votes. There was also one candidate for the sanitary district, Joshua Jacobs, who was elected with 118 votes.

Allan Ray was the only candidate for the Great Salt Bay Sanitary District trustee, where there are two vacancies, and Joshua Jacobs was the only candidate for the lone open seat on the school board. Both Ray and Jacobs were elected for those positions.

Newcastle voters also approved their secondary and Great Salt Bay school budgets.

Like Damariscotta, Newcastle also had an increase in the secondary schools budget, but the increase was 16 percent, to $170,875 to $1.23 million. Voters passed that budget, 89-38.

Voters in Newcastle also passed the Great Salt Bay Budget 91-36.