BREWER – Since voters rejected last Tuesday a referendum question aimed at financing pressing school building improvements, school officials have been working to come up with alternative funding plans.

In a particularly close referendum, residents voted 2,396 to 2,376 against a request to increase the Brewer High School District’s debt limit from $2.5 million to $5 million.

The debt cap for the district, which is responsible for maintaining buildings and grounds at the city’s public schools, has not been increased since 1973.

Superintendent Allan Snell said Monday that because Brewer High School’s accreditation hinges on it, the proposed library expansion at Brewer High School is one project school officials cannot put off much longer.

During a school committee meeting last fall, Snell noted that the Brewer School Department had been warned that unless it accomplished the aforementioned facilities improvements, it was at risk of losing its accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

To that end, the district’s trustees last year hired Brewer architect James Smith to design an addition to the library and to devise a plan to provide more space for such student services as the school nurse and various counselors. The project is expected to cost between $700,000 and $800,000.

While Snell acknowledged that the project will push the trustees uncomfortably close to their spending limit, construction is slated to begin this summer. The completion is targeted for fall, in time for the start of the next school year.

Snell said the trustees agreed last week to proceed with the work, and also to see if Brewer might be eligible for state assistance.

According to an informational flier school officials issued before the referendum, construction costs and building-repair costs have increased significantly in the past 27 years.

Recent projects that contributed to the district’s debts include replacement of the heating system, windows and gymnasium bleachers at the high school, a new handicap ramp and brick repairs at Brewer Middle School, and a new boiler at Capri Street School.

Snell said while it was not yet clear how the trustees will finance two other pressing projects, namely roof replacements at State Street School and Washington Street School, the group decided to proceed with that work as well.

He said the trustees hoped to get some assistance from the state for that work, which is expected to run about $200,000. If funds are not available from the state, the district may turn to the annual operating budget or from the city.

Given the referendum results, Snell speculated that some residents might have been under the erroneous impression that trustees planned to borrow – and spend -the full $2.5 million increase, which he said was not the case.

The high school addition and the two roof-replacement projects add up to about $1 million.

Snell said the trustees plan to put the question back before voters during city elections next year.

To improve the referendum’s chances of passage, he said, trustees and other schools will take steps to better educate the community of the needs of the local school facilities.