WALES — Voters in Litchfield, Sabattus and Wales defeated the $17.7 million RSU 4 budget Tuesday, according to election results from town clerks. The combined tally was 292-331.

The vote in Sabattus was 121-180. It passed narrowly in the other two towns: Litchfield, 109-100, and Wales, 62-51.

The budget for 2013-14, $17.75 million, was a 0.85 percent increase over the current year.

It included cutting 8.7 teaching positions and making the district one of the first in the state to give computers to every student in kindergarten to grade 12.

Superintendent Jim Hodgkin had warned that the budget represented a dramatic increase in property taxes in the three towns, largely due to less revenue and new costs from the state.

The budget was expected to add 99 cents to the tax rate in Litchfield, $1.63 in Sabattus and $1.44 in Wales.

On a $150,000 home, that was an increase to property tax bills of $149 in Litchfield, $245 in Sabattus and $217 in Wales, in addition to any increases from the municipal budgets.

Question 2 to keep the budget validation process for another three years passed in all three towns.