Editor’s note: This article is by Chris Mays, of the Bennington Banner www.benningtonbanner.com, in which it was first published Aug. 10, 2015.
WILMINGTON — Local town officials say not enough is being done to keep property taxes down.
And local school officials, residents and state representatives can’t agree anymore.
“I think we’re all a little concerned,” Selectboard Chairwoman Diane Chapman said at Wednesday’s meeting. “It seems no matter how hard we try to keep our tax rate from going up minimally, the state comes down and clobbers us.”
Wilmington’s local tax rate went up 2 percent. But with the state’s education rate, residential rates were going up 14 percent and nonresidential rates 6 percent.
“We’re trying to keep ours as fiscally conservative as possible but we’re losing ground,” said Tom Fitzgerald, board vice chairman, later lamenting that Wilmington once was an affordable place to live.
Property taxes not paid due to income sensitivity are being picked up by other property tax payers, noted Rep. Ann Manwaring, D-Windham-6.
“The general fund budget in the current year is $1.41 billion,” she said. “But inside the education fund, $1.5 billion, is over $300 million that moves over from the general fund. So the general fund, right out of the gate, takes almost 25 percent of it and slides it over to the ed fund.”
Manwaring said she pushed for more discipline around the education fund while the House of Representatives was drafting its version of the education bill that passed during the last legislative session. The language would have put in tighter controls, similar to those associated with general fund expenditures.
A different containment measure adopted in the legislation is going to be painful, Manwaring said, especially in smaller districts.
“The search for contained spending at the legislative level will be one of my key priorities when I go back,” she said. “Finding some elements that can be real disciplined inside in the ed fund.”
Property tax relief won’t come from school mergers, according to Rep. Laura Sibilia, I-Windham-Bennington, who said they will only raise taxes.
“I know the cap is going to be really challenging for all our towns here,” she said. “But we were going to feel the pain anyway because all of the caps that were being discussed as cost containment measures were very squarely aimed at small districts. This was something that will hit everyone.”
Only a new funding mechanism will provide relief, Sibilia told the board, because the current mechanism is what’s driving up property taxes. Classrooms, no matter the size, are expected to run at the same cost. And the small-staffed Agency of Education concerns Sibilia as schools are expected to fall in line with the new education law.
“Montpelier wants to take everything over and look at what they’re taking over, education and health care. They’re both debacles,” said John Gannon, board member. “We have the second highest premiums in the country. That’s not working.”
Twin Valley School Board member Phil Taylor said the school budget was kept level-funded to where it was two years ago. The per-pupil cost goes up annually but he said there are other factors leading to increases such as non-reimbursed special education costs and supervisory union costs.
“The supervisory union gets more expensive per pupil as our enrollment declines,” Taylor said. “That is something where we looked into merging or working with other supervisory unions but nobody wants it. And to me, it’s a big aspect of inequity. I believe our students are paying a lot more per pupil for supervisory union services and less supervisory union services than they are in Bennington and Brattleboro. And that means less funds that are available.”
Manwaring said the state is building up middle management at the expense of classroom investment.
Sens. Dick Sears and Brian Campion will talk with the board about these matters next month.
