HOLDEN – Voters in School Administrative District 63, comprising Holden, Eddington and Clifton, gave resounding approval Tuesday to changing the way the school budget is approved and the way it is presented for the tri-town school district.

Seeking more accountability, voters, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, approved a budget validation referendum process. This means an extra vote will be taken a few days after the annual district budget meeting in June. The second vote will allow residents to vote in privacy to approve or vote down the budget, and to indicate whether the budget adopted at the district budget meeting is too high or too low.

A moderate turnout was reported in the towns where residents also voted on statewide referendum issues.

In Holden, voters also re-elected Clare Payne to a three-year term on the Town Council. Don Varnum and Dick Perry were re-elected to the SAD 63 board of directors.

The SAD 63 budget question was in two parts. Question 1 asked whether voters wanted a second referendum vote to follow the district budget meeting annually. It also asked whether voters wanted the warrant articles to be presented for approval to align with a new “cost-center” method. Question 2 asked voters if they wanted a “nonbinding expression of opinion” on each budget validation referendum on whether the budget was too high or too low.

A breakdown of the vote by town is as follows:

. Clifton, the first to report results, registered 101 yes votes, 27 no votes and 3 blank ballots on Question 1. The Clifton vote on Question 2 was 105 yes, 15 no and 11 blank.

. Holden, where officials reported results at 9:15 p.m., voted 287 yes and 225 no on Question 1. The vote was 329 yes and 137 no on Question 2.

. Eddington, the last to report a vote tally at 9:35 p.m., registered 156 yes votes and 118 no votes on Question 1. On Question 2, Eddington voters tallied 175 yes and 76 no votes. The town had eight ballots left completely blank on both questions.

The new method of approving the school district budget will not take effect until 2004. The annual district meeting to approve the 2003-2004 school budget will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 14, at the Holbrook School in Holden.

Local residents this spring drew up a petition to vote on a revamped way of doing the school budget. It was described then as a way of getting more local control over a budget that is perceived by residents as going out of control, according to area selectmen. Complaints about subtle forms of intimidation at the annual district budget meetings also prompted the petition.

Reacting to the vote, Pat Cammack of Holden said she definitely was pleased with the result.

“This will be a more accountable way of keeping track of our budget,” said Cammack, a former member of the SAD 63 board of directors. The new budget method “is not about cutting teachers. It’s about cutting administrators in the superintendent’s office,” said Cammack.

Don Varnum, chairman of the SAD 63 board of directors, said the result reflected the wishes of the majority.

“The sun will come up tomorrow whether we have an additional vote to approve the budget next year or not,” said Varnum earlier in the evening. The SAD 63 board and the superintendent’s office had lobbied against the revamped budget proposal.