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Voters OK Souhegan school district budget

> AMHERST – Voters in Amherst and Mont Vernon supported the coopera­tive school district budget on Tuesday, approving the $17.58 million figure by an unofficial count of 1,813- 1,564.

Residents also voted in favor of the Amherst school portion, the town budget and every other article on Town Meeting Day, with two exceptions.

In total, 3,001 of regis­tered 8,867 Amherst vot­ers cast a ballot at Souhe­gan High School.

The cooperative school district total budget is $17,583,870, or a decrease of 10 cents per $1,000 of as­sessment for Amherst res­idents. In Mont Vernon, the budget was supported 230-213, while Amherst residents favored it 1,583- 1,352.

Meanwhile, the Am­herst School District budget of $24,597,380 was favored 1,660-1,275. Its passage represents an increase of 26 cents per $1,000 of assessment.

Regarding the town budget, voters opted to pass the $12,896,109 figure 1,890-987, according to the unofficial results. It will add $139 per year to the tax bill of the average res­idence in town.

Voters also supported an article that would raise $1 million ($450,000 from town taxpayers) and place it in a fund operated by the Amherst Conserva­tion Commission toward the purchase of 227 acres of undeveloped land be­tween Spring, County and Upham roads. The vote was 1,878-984.

Only two articles, in fact, failed Tuesday: Ar­ticle 32, which related to a maintenance garage con­struction project, and Ar­ticle 40, which would have amended zoning laws to permit noncommercial sports and recreation uses in all parts of town. The latter failed 1,842-972.

In the race for the va­cancies on the Souhe­gan Cooperative School District, Dwayne Purvis (1,386 votes) and Stephen W. Coughlan (1,360) won the pair of open three-year terms over Marga­ret McCabe (1,169) and Bob Brewster (969), while Peter Maresco defeated Mike Akillian 1,510-1,015 for a one-year seat.