School Board Update 6/7

Hi All, 

We have our voting day tomorrow at the Windham Meeting House starting at 10 am. Among other items, we will be voting on the proposed school budget. 

Last Informational Meeting, Laurie and I both provided analysis on the budget. Here are links to those discussions and presentations: 

Laurie starting at 40:05 – Budget – Article 2 discussion – Laurie

Daniel starting at 50:25 – Budget – Article 2 discussion – Daniel

I recommend watching the full video to hear our full discussion(s) and Q/A’s: Informational Meeting 5-28-24

Also, as promised, here is the budget scenario calculator I promised (see below). You only need to fill in the appraisal information for your parcel into the 2024 housesite value and your income to see the final bill after property tax credits for each year and scenario. I make the point in the budget presentation just how powerful the property tax credits truly are to each scenario – flattening every scenario/year to roughly the same tax bill. Furthermore, I use Census, Windham Appraisal data and Vermont Tax gov documents (all publicly available and included) to show how at least 70% of returns or families meet this credit threshold. If you prefer an alternate calculator (although not tailored specifically to Windham), it is available at our state’s tax department website – Vermont Dept of Taxes – Property Tax Credit ’24 calculator as well as a Property Tax Explainer.

One significant change has been made that otherwise was not in my assumptions. If a budget does not pass we as a district are subject to 87% of our last year’s budget. What was not factored into the assumed debt service we’d run into if we had a failed vote is that 87% is considered borrowed and would have debt service – interest calculated until such time as the Educational Spending covers the note. What this means is the debt service looks more dire in a failed 87% scenario. Between the SU and the school board, we recommend that a budget passes and the 87% scenario should be absolutely avoided as it will have financial consequences into our future school years. The documentation has been provided by Bob and Laurie at the SU on how budget failures work (also below). 

Hope this information is helpful to guide your votes tomorrow and please refer back to the (below) previous school board update for some of the common questions answered. 

See you tomorrow!

Daniel Roth
Vice Chair 
Windham School Board

Additional Resources