HERMON – The school committee Monday night rejected by a 3-2 vote the building committee’s recommendation to seek state funds for construction of a new middle school.

The Town Council also had expressed support for a new middle school.

Instead, the school committee voted to instruct its consultant to prepare an application for new construction funds to build a consolidated school for pupils in kindergarten through grade eight. The state’s deadline for new construction applications is Aug. 1.

Board members Bryant Madore, Tony Reynolds and Shirley Harrison voted against the building committee’s recommendation. Ralph Carr and Douglas Smith supported the proposal. Smith did not attend Monday night’s meeting, but the board agreed to accept his written proxy vote.

“It bothers me that we have a building committee, we put them through all these hoops and then we ignore their recommendation,” said Carr. “We also have a council that agrees with the building committee. We can’t go off alone like this.”

In a letter read at the meeting, Smith stated that he personally supported a kindergarten through grade eight school but would vote to support the building committee’s recommendation.

“Building one new school instead of two will give us the opportunity to cut operational costs,” said Madore. “We can combine services for things like the library, gym and cafeteria. It would mean operating two physical plants rather than three. My decision is financial more than anything.”

Superintendent Patricia Duran expressed doubt last month that the community would support a kindergarten through grade eight school because of its experience with a combined school. The middle school and high school were combined in the current middle school facility before 1995, when the new high school was finished.

Ed Marsh, who chaired the building committee, said the debate between building a school for sixth- through eighth-graders or a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade school was “hotly debated.”

“The committee made the recommendation to build a new middle school twice,” he said after the vote. “The first vote was five to two and the second time five voted for a new middle school, one voted for a new elementary school and one voted for a combined school.”

In other business, the school committee accepted a bid of $99,000 from E.W. Littlefield & Sons of Hartland for roof repairs to the middle school.

One member of the public expressed concern over the school committee’s proposed budget increase of $740,000. Combined with the proposed municipal budget, property taxes would increase $3 to $16.76 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

“I’ve lived in Hermon all my life,” Donna Pulver told the school committee Monday night. “I graduated from Hermon High School in 1953. When I went to work, the minimum wage was 75 cents an hour. Now, I’m retired and once they take out my health care, I have $650 a month to live on.

“I’m telling you that a three mill increase is unrealistic,” she said.

Duran said the increase was due to a 21 percent increase in health insurance costs, a 3 percent increase in teacher salaries and increased fuel costs. The town’s valuation has increased during the past few years, which has decreased the percentage at which the state reimburses the town for its educational costs.

A hearing on the proposed school budget will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at the high school auditorium.