By VDC staff
With delinquent taxes totaling about $250,000, the Town of Cambridge has cut spending but still faces a proposed 6% increase in the municipal tax rate, the News & Citizen reported earlier this year.
The draft $4.6 million town budget is lower than last year’s $4.9 million spending plan, but delinquency, rising costs and limited grand list growth would still push taxes higher, states the January 15 story written by reporter Aaron Calvin in the Lamoille County weekly newspaper.
The municipal increase could come on top of a potential 6% hike in state education property taxes, depending on legislative action.
Selectboard Chair Cody Marsh said he is unhappy with the projected increase.
“I don’t like the 6% [municipal] increase,” Marsh said. “I would like to see that negative or zero.”
Marsh, a Waterville native, said expectations of town services have changed over time, recalling how a former road foreman in Waterville once sanded only the most dangerous hills to save money.
“That was his way of trying to keep the town budget down. He took care of the worst sections of the road, but now, if you propose just sanding the hills, I think there’d be a massive outcry. It’s just our society and the way we go about our day-to-day business has changed a lot,” Marsh said.
In addition to delinquent taxes, Officials also cited inflation, higher wages and health care costs, road maintenance expenses and stagnant property values as major pressures. The town is also dealing with the lingering effects of timeshare assessment appeals, flood-related property buyouts from July 2023, and a moratorium on new village water hookups that limits development.
A volunteer committee is studying whether a local option tax could help offset future increases by capturing more revenue from visitors.
Cambridge Town Hall photo credit – the Switchel Philosopher blog by Cambridge resident George Putnam.