NEWPORT – As Yogi Berra once said, “It’s deja vu all over again” in SAD 48. The district’s budget committee unanimously voted Thursday night to put the recently failed $17 million school budget back to a referendum vote intact.

When individually polled, the committee members stated that they felt they couldn’t make any cuts. Each agreed to resubmit it as is.

But even that may not be enough, Superintendent William Braun told them. He expects increased diesel, oil and propane costs to inflate his budget by at least $40,000, and whether the state will fund $35,000 in repairs to Corinna School’s heating system is still a question mark.

At the start of the meeting, when asked about potential cuts, Braun asked, “Do you want to get hit with a ball-peen hammer or a sledgehammer?”

Budget Chairman David Sharpe said, “I’m scared to death if we trim any more. With the increased fuel costs, we are caught between a rock and a hard place.”

On June 8, fewer than 2,100 district voters defeated all but one of the six district questions, repeating a pattern established last year when they defeated a $16.8 million budget six times.

Board members felt, however, that the low voter turnout was because of apathy and voters sitting back to see what was going to happen with the state’s Question One, which passed, mandating that the state fund education at a 55 percent level.

The committee agreed to hold the referendum on Aug. 5 after a public hearing on July 2. The warrants will be signed on June 22.