This time around, the booming came from outside.

Amid a thunderstorm booming outside, Damariscotta voters approved the 2015-16 secondary school budget on Thursday, May 28.

While there were several residents who voiced their displeasure with the budget and the incoming increases, voters at the Great Salt Bay Community School ultimately approved the budgets.

After more than 45 minutes of discussion, voters approved the special education budget 28-13.

Voters had previously rejected the secondary and special education budgets during a May 6 public meeting.

Most of the attention focused on one special needs student who will need to attend a specialized out-of-state school starting next year. The tuition cost is estimated to be north of $205,000 per year, but from eventual returns the cost would likely be closer to $100,000 per year.

A large percentage of that money will be coming back to the town, Superintendent of Schools Steve Bailey said during the Thursday, May 28 meeting.

Because Damariscotta's cost is so far above the state averages, approximately $128,000 will be coming back to the town in the form of a subsidy next year. Another 30 percent of all special education costs are returned to the town after two years.

But, the town will have to shoulder the entire increase this year, Bailey said.

But voters during that meeting expressed concern over the potential of paying for the specialized schooling until the child is 20.

Bailey said the child will be reevaluated every year, and may not need to attend the same school each year. In fact, Bailey said, if everything goes well, the child will be moving closer to home.

“Each situation is reviewed annually, and even though this decision was made for 2015-16, it might not be the decision made for the next five-six years,” he said. “(The goal) is to get them back to their home school as soon as possible.”

Had voters turned down the budget a second time, it would have gone back to the school board again. Bailey said in a previous interview that the budget would keep going back to the school board until July 1, when the new budget starts, or until the voters agreed on it.

Should no budget be agreed upon, the secondary school budget would remain unchanged. The costs wouldn't, and money for secondary and special education would still have to be paid by the town, Bailey warned at a previous meeting. That would likely mean the budget would be exhausted at some point during the year and the school board would have to again come before Damariscotta voters to ask for more money.

The regular instruction budget also increased approximately $181,000, or 20 percent, from the 2014-15 budget to $1.1 million.

The special education budget will see an increase of $276,000 to $476,000, with the bulk of that being put into the specialized out-of-state schooling.

The total amount the town will have to raise is $939,000 for the $1.7 million budget. The approved budget a year ago was $1.27 million.

Voters will be asked to approve the budget during the closed ballot portion of the June 9 town meeting.

Damariscotta resident Jim Campbell said he felt not enough was done to reduce the budget.

“The well's running dry,” he said. “And I don't see much belt tightening going on.”

Damariscotta resident George Betke said what bothered him the most was the lack of information about the school, and the type of education required for the student.

“A lot of education is about questioning and there are a lot of unanswered questions here,” he said. “I am objecting to virtually no disclosure.”

Betke said he researched specialty schools and failed to find one with a tuition north of $120,000 per year.

“The highest was $120,000 and the next highest was $106,000,” he said. “Why is our case so extraordinary?”

Damariscotta school board member Angela Rust spoke after Betke and said the board didn't want to have the costs spike, but that there was no choice.

“We understand,” she said, “We asked the same questions. We're taxpayers too. But I want to remind you, we don't have a choice – you can throw a tantrum and not pass the budget, but we'll just be right back here (in the future) and we'll have to dip into the town's budget.

“This is a lot (of money), and no we're not privy to private information on this case... it's a lot and there's nothing we can do except to hope and pray for reimbursement.”

Resident Katherine Kennedy said the town could open itself up to a lawsuit should it not agree to pay for the specialized school.

“This is law – towns have been sued when students don't have equal opportunities,” she said. “If we don't have (the specialized school required) in this state, we don't force people to move to find the places they need. We support them. We are a community and we should act like one.”

Damariscotta resident Dick Mayer bristled at Rust's mention of people throwing a tantrum, and said taxpayers simply wanted to know what they were getting when they approved the budget.

“There's a fundamental unfairness of asking to pay for this without knowing,” he said. “Let's suppose next year it's $400,000, then let's suppose $600,000. Do we just say 'Oh well, it's the law. I think about the little old lady who can't pay her taxes.”