The purpose of this meeting was to discuss and finalize the FY25 proposed budget in preparation for the June 4threvote (3rdvote). There were no community comments either prior or subsequent to the discussion.
It was discussed that since the information provided on the May 9, 2024 school board meeting, the yield numbers have yet again changed, have now been voted on by the Vermont legislature, and are pending the governor’s signature/veto(see news articles below). Discussed was part of the yield bill apparently added 13% to the home owner property tax credits that appear to only apply to those taxpayer’s already receiving income-based property tax credits.
At the May 9thschool board meeting, the board had discussed cutting two administrative positions, currently unfilled/recently vacated, to reduce to zero the portion of the budget that is directly under the town’s control and not due to the Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) part of the tax formula. However, due to the above-noted yield bill changes by the legislature, these draft cuts were now in sufficient to meet that goal. The school board determined that the best course of action to obtain voter approval was to further reduce the budget to once again eliminate the budget impacts directly under the town’s control based on the new yield to again reduce to zero (or more, which occurred) the portion of the budget directly under the town’s control. The board decided to further reduce the budget by another $90,000 by removing and consolidating a bus route that is believed will have minimal impact on overall bus route times. Based on these changes, the new budget for the third vote is: $36,418,613.Therefore, the original budget voteof$37,172,203has been reduced by a total of$753,590.
The board finalized numerous opportunities to meet one-on-one (or two) with MTSD board members to ask questions. There will also be a budget informational meeting held at the MHS Library/Zoom on May 23, 2024at 6pm and a Budget Social at the MHS Library on May 30, 2024 from 6-8pm. The budget vote will be held on June 4, 2024 from 7am-7pm
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