Bond, budget meetings on school district calendar Jan. 30-Feb. 1

January 26, 2024  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

It’s a busy week on the Harwood Unified Union School District calendar next week. 

Final Harwood renovation presentation 

The final community meeting to review proposals for renovations to Harwood Union Middle/High School is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 30, 6-8 p.m. Unlike the other meetings held in each of the district’s schools, this one will be done exclusively via Zoom. 

“We want to make sure everyone in our community has a chance to participate in the discussion on the future of Harwood Union High School. If you weren’t able to attend an in-person meeting we are offering a Zoom option,” school board leaders Kristen Rodgers and Kelley Hackett, chair and vice chair, said in a Friday announcement. 

School district officials are looking to put together a renovation plan for Harwood to address many maintenance and upgrade needs for the facility that opened in 1966. Voters in the district rejected a nearly $60 million construction bond back in November 2021. 

The improvements are detailed in a presentation shared at the meetings. Those deemed most essential total about $71 million and a list of additional work that district leaders are asking community members to weigh in on totals another $21 million. 

About 150 people have attended the in-person meetings, one held at each of the district’s schools starting in November. In addition to the meetings, school officials have asked community members to share their feedback using a short online survey. Superintendent Mike Leichliter on Friday said that the survey so far has had 226 responses. Students at Harwood also have had a survey and small-group discussions to collect opinions on the school building’s needs as part of the public comment for the project. 

Community members may watch/join the Jan. 30 meeting on Zoom using this link. People can also watch the meeting on the district’s YouTube channel. Only Zoom attendees will be able to ask questions in real time, however. 

Bond Planning Committee reviews feedback

The school board’s Bond Planning Committee that has been working on the construction bond issue will meet next week on Thursday, Feb. 1, at 5 p.m. in the Harwood library to go over feedback from the meetings, the survey, and student activities. 

After considering the public input, the committee will make a recommendation to the full school board as to what elements should be included in the construction plan. Once the school board signs off on the scope of the project, architects will work on detailed plans and cost estimates. School officials would like to put the bond up for a public vote on the November General Election ballot. 

School board to set budget for March 5 vote

Another important meeting on the school district calendar next week is the School Board’s regular meeting Wednesday, Jan. 31, starting at 6 p.m. in the Harwood library and via Zoom and livestreamed on the district’s YouTube page.  

The board will be reviewing draft budget details for fiscal year 2024-25 which begins July 1. The board needs to finalize the questions for the March 5 Town Meeting Day ballot for voters to consider. 

The board last week reached a general consensus on a draft budget of $50,844,703. That represents an 11.94% increase over the current year’s $45.4 million budget. However, that comes to an increase of just 8.31% per pupil given the state’s new formula for calculating student population numbers. The new state school funding rules encourage districts to keep spending increases below 10% per pupil. Those budgets calling for per-pupil increases of 5% or more will have the property tax rate capped at 5% for the coming year. 

As a result, an earlier version of the budget with a bottom line that’s $1 million less than the preferred version will cost taxpayers the same as the $50.8 million plan. 

But that doesn’t mean property tax bills will see a 5% cap. The state formula takes into consideration the wide shift in property values compared with property assessments, which in all of the Harwood communities predate the pandemic when market prices jumped markedly. 

As a result, the expected property tax increases per town to support the budget the school board so far prefers will range widely from a low of $316 per $100,000 of assessed property value in Duxbury to $509 per $100,000 in assessed value in Warren; Waterbury’s increase is estimated at $389 per $100,000. The percentage increases in those examples are 16.6% for Duxbury, 25.8% in Warren and 20.3% for Waterbury. 

As an example, a home valued at $300,000 in each of those communities would see its property tax bill increase by $948 in Duxbury, $1,527 in Warren, and $1,167 in Waterbury. 

The $1 million difference between the two budget versions the board considered would put $500,000 each into the district’s Maintenance Reserve Fund and a new general reserve account that voters would need to approve. The maintenance fund is used exclusively for building repairs and improvements; a general reserve could be spent on facility needs as well as general operating expenses. 

In keeping with the district’s typical practice, a surplus of $535,000 from the 2022-23 budget year will appear on the March 5 ballot for voters to authorize it to be added to the Maintenance Reserve fund. 

The board needs to finalize the questions for the Town Meeting Day ballot next week. 

Monday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m. is also the deadline for people to file petitions with their town clerks to get on the ballot to run for local office including school board. Five of the board’s 14 seats will be on the March ballot: two seats in Waterbury and one each from Fayston, Moretown and Warren. 

The agenda for the Jan. 31 board meeting is posted online at HUUSD.org under the board tab. The board meets at 6 p.m. in the Harwood library. The public may join via Zoom (link on the agenda) or watch a livestream on the district’s YouTube channel.