By Curt Peterson
The homestead education tax rate in Hartland will rise 23.95% this year – from $1.816 per $100 in assessed value, to $2.251.
For a $250,000 home, this change will add about $1,087 to the FY2025 tax bill.
“Ouch!” cries are heard throughout the town’s listserv and around the coffee bar at Three Corners Market. And everyone’s focusing on the proposed Hartland Elementary School budget, which has increased 15.51%, to $11,541,199.
The previous budget, FY2024, was $9,991,128.
“Time to say ‘No’!” and “Cut the fat out of the school budget!” taxpayers shout, either aloud or on their laptops. As in most towns, the taxpayers get interested in the school budget when the tax rate is announced, but at budget meetings, where the expenses are analyzed and the budget is set, there are no taxpayers present to hear deliberations or offer input.
“And, there’s an open seat on the board, for which no one is running,” added Nicki Buck, school board chair.
The Mountain Times decided to go over the budget in detail with the long-time school board chair.
“We saw this coming and did the best we could to minimize the pain,” Buck said. “Much of the increase is beyond our control.”
There’s been a lot of discussion around health insurance premium increases, which are negotiated by the state, over 16% in the proposed budget. Those are outside of the board or voter control.
Buck said the biggest cause for the ed tax increase is the common level of appraisal (CLA) in Hartland. The CLA indicates the difference between the total value of Hartland’s Grand List of property assessments, and the calculated market value. Over the past three years, the town’s CLA percentage went from 100.6% of market value in FY2022 to 0.69% in FY2025.
Said another way, there has been a tremendous increase in property value in Hartland, such that the values on the town’s Grand List represent only 69% of true market value. The CLA is a mechanism to ensure everyone pays their fair share of taxes based on the current value of property.
“If it wasn’t for our CLA, we’d be in good shape,” Buck said. “Of the 42 cent increase in the tax rate, the school budget represents just 7 cents. The CLA adjustment makes up the other 35 cents.”
In the budget itself, two teaching positions, previously funded by Covid relief funds, are now included in the budget. “Title 1” funds for the coach position are also no longer available.
Smaller items in the budget include a fund for replacing 25-year-old playground equipment, which has deteriorated to the point some are taped-off so no one can get hurt using it.
“We are doing fundraising and grant writing to help fund the new equipment,” Buck said.
She hopes taxpayers realize the school board is very sensitive to their pain in the taxation environment, and that the school budget is not full of “fat” that might drive higher taxes.
“If we cut $800,000 from our proposed budget,” she said, “it would reduce the tax rate only 1 cent — from 42 cents to 41 cents.”
