Harwood’s second school budget vote is Tuesday
April 27, 2024 | By Lisa ScagliottiApril 28 update: A detail was added to this post about the school tax rate and its impact on the overall tax bill.
On Tuesday, voters in the six communities of the Harwood Unified Union School District will head to the polls to consider a new budget of $48.8 million to run schools for the 2024-25 school year.
The second vote is needed after voters on Town Meeting Day overwhelmingly rejected the first budget of $50.8 million by a vote of 2,640 to 1,439.
Voting in Waterbury on Tuesday, April 30, will be at the municipal offices. File photo by Lisa Scagliotti
Harwood was one of 33 school districts where budgets failed to win voter approval in the March 5 election. As revotes have begun to take place, multiple school districts have now seen second budget failures and are headed for third votes.
School administrators and the Harwood School Board have revised the proposal on the new ballot. The largest reduction is $1 million that comes from eliminating an addition to the district’s Maintenance Reserve Fund. When school officials initially put the budget together in January, they looked to beef up that account to help with building repairs and upgrades. The fund currently has about $2 million while the project list for the next four years is just over $19 million. Voters on March 5 approved adding $535,000 to the account from a 2022-23 budget surplus.
The revised budget trims $632,000 for next year from maintenance and operations, teacher and staff training, supplies and more. In addition to 13 positions cut from district staffing in building the March budget, the revised budget cuts three additional positions bringing the total to 16.5 fewer full-time equivalent positions proposed for 2024-25. The new proposal also would leave several additional positions vacant to save another $400,000.
The budget on the ballot represents an increase of 7.63% over the current year’s budget. That’s down from a nearly 12% increase that the March budget relied upon.
School officials have held two informational meetings in the past two weeks to review the budget revisions. Both included a slide presentation by Finance Director Lisa Estler with these details about spending, the latest cuts, and property tax implications. The meetings included questions from the public and discussion. They were recorded and are available to view on the district’s YouTube channel.
Given current state figures school districts have been told to use, Estler’s presentation includes a chart showing what estimated property tax increases would be by town under the revised budget. The increases range from 13.4% in Duxbury to 21.4% in Warren with Waterbury’s increase in between at 17%. When calculated for every $100,000 of assessed property value, the increases come to $254 in Duxbury, $324 in Waterbury and $439 in Warren. (So a property valued at $350,000 would see a tax increase of $889 in Duxbury, $1,133 in Waterbury and $1,537 in Warren.)
Estler’s slides show that in the complex formula used to determine education funding, the school district’s tax rate would increase just 2.1% with the revised budget and it would account for only $31 for every $100,000 of assessed property value. The remainder of the final tax impact comes from factoring in the Common Level of Appraisal to adjust for real property values exceeding outdated assessments.
School officials also point out that more than half the district’s taxpayers qualify for property tax relief under a state program based on income. Estler urges property owners with a household income of $128,000 or less to check with the Vermont Tax Department online at tax.vermont.gov/property/property-tax-credit or by calling 802-828-2505 to learn more. Although a deadline has passed to apply for this year, a late fee of $15 will allow new applications into October, she noted.
Should the budget fail to pass in Tuesday’s vote, school board leaders said they would call another vote as soon as possible. The district can schedule a new vote with as little as one week’s notice, Superintendent Mike Leichliter explained at an earlier School Board meeting.
Under state law, the district needs a budget in place by June 30 when the current fiscal year ends. If voters don’t approve a spending plan by then, the district would be able to borrow funds equivalent to 87% of the last approved budget until a voter-approved plan is adopted. The 2023-24 school budget is $45.4 million; 87% of that would be $39.5 million.
Board Chair Ashley Woods said school leaders have not mapped out what spending cuts would be required should the district need to work within that drastically reduced budget.
In Thursday’s informational meeting she responded to a question about what areas would be considered for cuts and if it would involve more than teaching positions. Woods said that contrary to messages she’s seen on social media, there is no detailed plan yet for reducing the budget to $39 million. “We haven’t really gone there yet because it’s a lot of people,” Woods said. “I would say that all things are going to be considered: administration, teachers, staff.”
Another question at Thursday’s session asked where plans stand for a construction bond to renovate Harwood Union Middle/High School. The school board and administration held a series of meetings in the fall and early winter to review building maintenance and upgrade needs in anticipation of asking voters in November to approve a construction bond for work estimated between $64 million and $92 million.
Woods described the renovation discussion as “stalled” and “in a holding pattern” given the district’s focus on getting the 2024-25 budget passed. “We need to do it, but in the current climate I would say it is on pause. The building is still in the miserable shape it was in,” she said. School administrators will work with the Maintenance Reserve Fund to prioritize some work over the summer and next year, she noted. “We’re looking at what we can get done in cost-effective ways and how to chip away little by little.”
Board Vice Chair Cindy Senning said the Bond Committee would reconvene in the fall to reassess the high school project.
Voting in Duxbury on Tuesday, April 30, will be at the town office and garage in drive-through format. Election worker Greg Trulson (left) and Town Clerk Maureen Harvey (right) greet voters at the check-in booth in this file photo by Gordon Miller.
The School Board has also just formed a Finance Committee which will work with Estler on a detailed look at district finances with an eye toward finding long-term efficiencies and savings with a goal of reducing the district’s per-pupil spending. That effort will consider all options, Woods said, including possible school consolidation. Senning said capital improvements will also be part of that review.
Board leaders said that the Harwood board has weighed in with state lawmakers who are considering whether to resume some state funding for local school facility projects. The district benefitted from state construction aid in the past such as with construction of Crossett Brook Middle School in the mid-1990s, Senning noted. District leaders said they would like to see the state program resume to assist with the construction needed at Harwood.
Voting on the revised school budget is Tuesday, April 30, in person 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Polling places are listed on the election warning. Voters also may cast a ballot on Monday during regular business hours at each town clerk's office. Early voting in Waterbury, for example, has been popular. A check on Friday at the town clerk’s office found a stack of sealed early early ballots more than a foot high.
See more coverage of the school budget since the March 5 vote in the Education section here as well as a variety of letters and commentaries in the Opinion section.