Stonington — Voters approved the proposed 2018-19 budget of $70.25 million by a vote of 681-255 at Tuesday’s referendum. Just 7 percent of thee town’s 13,568 registered voters cast ballots.

At the town meeting to announce the results of the vote, First Selectman Rob Simmons said the approval was the result of the selectmen, finance and school boards and police going through various budget revisions “and then reaching consensus in a very bad year.”

"When we came up with the final product there was no opposition,” he said.

Simmons said the budget process was “an open and transparent one” with no partisan divisions.

The budget shows a more than $2.3 million increase compared to the current budget, in large part due to a $1.8 million hike in debt payments caused by the $67 million elementary school project.

The proposed tax rate is 22.68, a decrease of 0.3 mill. The small decrease, however, is in large part due to the revaluation, which showed a grand list increase of 4.6 percent. To accurately determine whether the proposed budget would increase their tax bill, property owners must multiply their new assessment by the proposed tax rate and then compare that to their current tax bill.