The 2024 Property Tax Revolt continues, with two more budgets going down to defeat last week. As reported in VDC, 30 school districts rejected budgets March 5. Since then, five of six revotes (known to VDC) failed.
Add two more to the No list. Voters in the Essex Junction-Westford school district and the Rivendell Interstate School District (Orford NH, and the Orange County towns of Vershire, West Fairlee, and Fairlee, Saturday morning) both rejected their 2024 school budgets last week.
It was the first 2024-25 school budget vote for both districts. In the aftermath, as elsewhere, their school boards must prepare tighter budgets in the face of voter unrest, if not outright rebellion, against the proposed 20% statewide property tax increase.
Both votes were resounding Nos.
Saturday night, RISD voters in Orford, NH and the Orange County towns of Vershire, Fairlee and West Fairlee voted 240 no, 143 yes on the proposed school budget.
In the Essex-Westford vote Tuesday April 9, the vote was 2,353 (yes) – 3,340 (no). A ‘yes’ in Essex/Westford would have increased spending by 7.7% and property taxes by about 23%.
School board chair Bob Carpenter said April 10, “as an elected board, we respect the will of our community in choosing not to uphold the initial EWSD budget brought forth. Now, our board is focused on bringing a revised budget forward over the next few weeks.” Voters did approve the tech center budget.
More school budget votes are scheduled for this week.
Hartford (White River Junction) will vote tomorrow, April 15, for the first time. The budget would increase taxes by an estimated 18.5%.
“If this budget does not pass, we will try to produce a budget that will pass. We will need to keep putting out budgets until we pass one, or we run out of time before the new fiscal year, which begins July 1,” a Hartford board statement said.
Schools may borrow up to 87% of the current budget necessary to operate schools. Taxpayers would be on the hook for all interest we incurred on the funds borrowed.
April 16 will be a Super Tuesday of sorts for budget revotes.
Milton, Champlain Valley Union SD, and Springfield, Mount Abraham Union Middle/High School, and Northfield schools, and the Elmore-Morristown school district will have their revote on April 16.
Georgia, South Burlington, St. Johnsbury, the Slate Valley Unified School District, and the Kingdom East School District all have voted no a second time to reduced school budgets. Alburgh is the only school district (known to VDC) to approve a revoted school budget. VDC readers, including school officials, are invited to report their school budget vote news to news@vermontdailychronicle.com.
Meanwhile, legislators are developing a bill that would fund a ‘foundation’ level for schools statewide with taxes other than the homestead property tax, leaving it as a local option to fund education above and beyond the ‘foundation’ level.
