WALES — Voters in Regional School Unit 4 rejected the proposed budget for 2023-24 for a third time Tuesday.

The vote was 524 no, 271 yes.

Tallies in each town were: Wales, 63 no, 67 yes; Litchfield, 256 no, 106 yes; Sabattus, 205 no, 98 yes.

Since the last vote, the board of directors cut $369,400 at its Sept. 20 meeting for a total reduction of $693,158 since the initial budget was offered to voters.

The budget rejected Tuesday was 2.2% more than last year’s voter-approved budget.

RSU 4’s initial budget of $22.45 million was reduced to $21.76 million by eliminating any new positions and reducing six additional open or unfilled positions.

Both previous budgets were overwhelmingly rejected.