By Guy Page
Voters in five school districts yesterday approved revised school budgets for the 2024-25 school year. Each school district had already rejected school budgets at least twice this year in the face of estimated double-digit property tax increases.
- Green Mountain Union High School (Cavendish, Andover, Baltimore, Chester) voters accepted a $16.6 million budget, $900,000 lower than the budget rejected at Town Meeting. It was the district’s third attempt to pass a budget. Turnout was higher than the previous budget vote, according to the June 5 Chester Telegraph, the online daily news source for the area.
- Ludlow – Mt. Holly school district voters accepted an $8.8 million budget, $322,000 lighter than the previously failed budget, the Telegraph reported.
- Fairfax voters decided by a wide margin (about 800 – 500 votes, a town official said speaking from memory) to adopt their school budget on the third try.
- Milton voters said yes to their revised budget, according to school district social media. The newly elected school board – considered more budget-conscious than its predecessor – had made responsible cuts and further cuts were not considered advisable, in part because the state will impose a statewide property tax even if more cuts are made, Milton GOP activist Wendy Wilton said in an op-ed in the Milton Independent days previous.
- The Champlain Islands Unified School District (covering much of Grand Isle County) approved its budget, a school official confirmed. Vote totals were not available.
The unanimous Yes votes of the five districts previously engaged direct property tax revolt reduces to eight the number of school districts without a 2024-25 school budget. Most of the remaining budgets have votes scheduled for next Tuesday or the following Tuesday.
A ‘perfect storm’ or rising health insurance and salaries, the loss of one-time federal funds, state mandated programs like the $30 million universal school meals, and a state funding formula that actually encouraged high spending at the local level all combined to raise the estimated property tax increase to about 20%.
As the number of recalcitrant school districts diminishes, the battle to reduce property taxes moves to (possibly) the June 17 legislative veto session and (certainly) to the August 13 legislative primary elections and the November general election.
After the flurry of No votes this spring, the Legislature passed H.887, a short-term fix that created two new taxes (air Bnb, Software) to lighten the load on property tax payers. Gov. Scott will hold a press conference Thursday, where he may announce vetoes on high-profile legislation. He has suggested he might veto H.887. While the Democratic supermajority has the votes to override, the election consequences of doing so could be problematic to individual lawmakers in the 33 districts that voted No at least once, and to the scale and effectiveness of the supermajority.
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