McINTYRE

PORTSMOUTH — Peter J. McIntyre, the lone Republican incumbent on the Town Council, has squeaked by political newcomer Mark J. Katzman, a Democrat, to retain his seat for a third consecutive term.

The counting of 470 absentee ballots gave McIntyre a narrow victory of 23 votes.

McIntyre got 3,466 votes, and Katzman garnered 3,443.

And just eight votes behind Katzman was Marian J. Loffredo, another Democrat making her first bid for office. Loffredo received 3,435 votes.

McIntyre, is a founder of Portsmouth Concerned Citizens, the taxpayer group that engineered successful drives to reduce school spending in 2002 and again this year.

He said he was pleased to win reelection, although he was surprised he didn’t attract a larger following.

Katzman said he has not decided whether to request a recount, but he said he has enjoyed “being outspoken as a candidate” and “win or lose” plans to continue speaking his mind.

Efforts to reach Loffredo were unsuccessful yesterday.

McIntyre will have one Republican colleague, political veteran Hubert “Huck” Little, a former state legislator, former council president, and the second-most popular candidate in Tuesday’s balloting for the seven seats on the council.

Katzman had been ahead of McIntyre before the count of mail ballots. The reversal still leaves Democrats with a four-member majority. There will also be an independent council member, Karen J. Gleason.

But the Democrat who was the top vote getter in the council races, incumbent Dennis M. Canario, has not always seen eye-to-eye with other party members who won reelection; James A. Seveney, Leonard B. Katzman (Mark’s brother) and William E. West.

Perhaps most significantly, Canario stood against the Democratic majority and voted with McIntyre in June when the council moved 4 to 3 to raise the tax rate 9.2 percent.

The decision sparked a petition drive for a special Financial Town Meeting, where Portsmouth Concerned Citizens and its backers drove down the net increase to 4 percent.

Now outside consultants hired by the School Committee say the schools will finish the fiscal year $770,000 in the red unless additional money is secured.

Canario has said he believes the town can adequately meet the needs of the schools and stay within state-imposed ceilings on raising the tax levy, which are to slide downward from 5.25 percent to 4 percent over the next several years.

The counting of absentee ballots did not change the results for the four vacant seats on the seven-member School Committee, where first-time Republican candidate Michael Buddemeyer drew the most votes, 3,805.

Democratic incumbent E. Richard Carpender and Republican Jamie R.B. Heaney tied in second place, with 3,593 votes each. Marjorie Levesque, another Democratic incumbent, won the fourth seat, with3,497 votes.

Rounding out the School Committee are three other members, including two Democrats, Sylvia Wedge and Terri Cortvriend, as well as one Republican, Douglas Wilkie. Their terms do not expire for another two years.