Sec. D-12. 20-A MRSA §1701, sub-§9, ķA, as amended by PL 1999, c. 710, §8, is further amended to read:

A. The budget format may be determined by the voters of a community school district by adoption of an appropriate warrant article at a properly called election held in accordance with the procedure set forth in section 15617 15693, subsection 6.

Sec. D-13. 20-A MRSA §1701, sub-§12, as amended by PL 1999, c. 710, §10, is further amended to read:

12. State-local allocations. To summarize the action taken on the budget for the purposes of determining the community school district's state-local allocations, the articles prescribed in chapter 606 606-B must also be voted on.

Sec. D-14. 20-A MRSA §1701-B, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1999, c. 710, §11, is amended to read:

5. Failure to approve budget. If the voters do not validate the budget approved in the district budget meeting at the budget validation referendum vote, the district school committee shall hold another district budget meeting in accordance with section 1701, subsection 8 at least 10 days after the referendum to vote on a budget approved by the committee. The budget approved at the district budget meeting must be submitted to the voters for validation at referendum in accordance with this section. The process must be repeated until a budget is approved at a district budget meeting and validated at referendum. If a budget is not approved and validated before July 1st of each year, the latest budget submitted by the committee is automatically considered the budget for operational expenses for the ensuing year until a final budget is approved, except that when the school committee delays the district budget meeting in accordance with section 15617 15693, subsection 2, paragraph C the operating budget must be approved within 30 days of the date the commissioner notifies the school committee of the amount allocated to the school unit under section 15613 15689-B or the latest budget submitted by the committee becomes the operating budget for the next school year.