BINGHAM -- Residents of Bingham and Moscow will have a fourth chance Tuesday to vote on this year's school budget.

The town-meeting-style vote on the $3.17 million school budget will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, in the Quimby Middle School gymnasium.

The subsequent referendum will occur on Nov. 17. Polls will be open from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. in each town.

Bingham residents will vote in the Quimby Middle School gym.

Moscow residents will vote at the town office.

The $3,174,065 budget is down $111,591 from last year, with the district receiving about $197,000 less in state subsidies and about $180,000 less in tax assessments, Superintendent Kenneth Smith said.

The current budget is down $93,000 from when it was presented at the beginning of the summer.

The district has cut positions, programs and sports in an attempt to appease taxpayers in a tough economic climate, Smith said.

"I think, from what I've heard, we've been able to satisfy a lot of their questions, and I think the budget supporters will be heard," he said.

The dual-vote procedure was put in place by the Legislature three years ago. Voters have approved the school district's budget each time in the open meeting and defeated it each time in the closed-curtain, referendum vote.

In June, the district presented taxpayers with a school budget of $3.27 million, which was nearly $19,000 less than the previous year. The measure failed, 76 to 44.

In August, taxpayers came back to vote on a revised budget of $3.18 million, reduced $87,000 from June. That measure also failed, 80 to 64.

Reduced by $6,175, voters in September rejected the $3.17 million budget yet a third time -- by one vote. The budget was defeated by the total vote of 92 to 91.

The budget that taxpayers will vote on Tuesday is the same budget presented in September.

School board members and administrators have said that if they cut any more funds from the budget, it will seriously damage the school system.

The district, which includes Valley High, Quimby Middle School and Moscow Elementary School, serves 243 students from Bingham and Moscow, as well as tuition students from unorganized communities such as Concord Township and Pleasant Ridge Plantation.

Erin Rhoda -- 474-9534

erhoda@mainetoday.com