Low Turnout in Rainy Weather
LYME/OLD LYME–The Region 18 school district’s $39.7 million 2025-26 budget has gone from proposed to official now that voters in Lyme and Old Lyme have approved the spending plan, which is up 7.39% over the current budget.
Unofficial numbers show the budget passed by 457 votes to 297, which reflects 60.6% of voters supporting the budget and 39.4% voting against it. That, in turn, shakes out to a vote by town of 374 to 272 in Old Lyme and 83 to 25 in Lyme. The total number of voters in. both towns combined was a scant 754.
Of the proposed budget’s $2.7 million increase, $1.8 million is attributable to debt payments on the renovation project. Calls from some residents to mitigate the increase by dipping into the district’s Rainy Day Fund were rejected by the regional school board at the budget meeting Monday night.
The budget includes an elementary school music position that was on the chopping block when Superintendent of Schools Ian Neviaser presented his initial recommendation early this year. The regional school board reinstated the position after a group of residents decried the ripple effect the reduction would have on the entire music program.
Neviaser on Monday evening welcomed the news. “We appreciate the continued support of our communities allowing for us to provide a top notch education for the young people of our two towns,” he said in a text message.
District budget documents show that Old Lyme is responsible for $31.51 million of the budget, while Lyme must pay $6.96 million. Both towns are billed by the regional school district based on enrollment.
That’s a proposed increase in Old Lyme of $1.99 million, or 6.7%, and in Lyme of $299,504, or 4.5%.