For a second time in as many months, residents in Clifton, Eddington and Holden rejected a proposal seeking additional funding for a construction project at the Eddington Consolidated School.

Despite efforts to drum up support for the proposal, Tuesday’s results showed a majority of SAD 63 residents once again disapproved of adding $158,000 to the $1.2-million project, even with the prospect of the state picking up the tab for the extra funding. The vote comes seven weeks after an earlier referendum failed but was resurrected by residents seeking a second chance.

“It certainly is a definitive vote,” said SAD 63 Superintendent William Ziemer about the 1,761-to-1,559 vote. He said the referendum results follow a national trend prompted by concerns about the economy.

While the proposal was supported by 47 percent of those voting, Ziemer said he doesn’t expect it will be brought back for a third time.

“It just won’t happen,” said Ziemer, explaining that by the time a new referendum could be scheduled, the project would already be well under way. The project is expected to be completed by August 1993.

The SAD 63 board of directors will be looking to pare some of the renovation items from a list of priorities. The board had initially sought increased funding because the bids for the project came in higher than anticipated and the board wanted to maintain the integrity of the original designs, Ziemer explained.

The list of priority items includes: about $2,300 for new heating ventilators; nearly $13,100 for new classroom lights; $11,450 for a front septic field pump station. Some of the more controversial projects included spending nearly $27,000 for laminated wooden beams to increase the height and acoustics of the multi-purpose room; $3,720 for a skylight for the library; nearly $6,700 for an acoustical treatment of the multi-purpose room’s walls; and $2,412 for acoustical tiling in a corridor.

Ziemer said projects like the ventilation system and septic system will have to be done eventually, with the total cost being borne locally.

Proponents of the proposal had hoped that given more time and more information, residents of these three small communities would be convinced of the need for the additional funding.

The only town to approve the measure Tuesday was Holden, although it was by a narrow margin. Residents there approved the referendum 904 to 897, the closest vote of the evening. Holden had also supported it in September voting, 71 to 45 in favor.

Clifton residents once again turned out overwhelmingly opposed to the proposal, rejecting it by a 250 to 110 vote. In mid September, Clifton was the sole town of the three to reject the additional funding, defeating it by a vote of 107 to 22.

Eddington residents, who stand to gain the most from the project, voted 614-to-545 to defeat the project, compared to September’s narrow margin, 108-to-97 in favor.