Understanding the budget process can be difficult, so in our reporting we try to keep money discussions as simple as possible while still explaining what the numbers mean. So, for instance, in reporting on the Newfound Area School District’s deliberative session on Saturday, we reported on the discussions and the action taken on the budget without going “deep into the weeds” to describe tax cap calculations, changes in revenues, and contractual obligations that affect the budget. The story was about the meeting and the resulting changes to the school district warrant so voters will know what decisions await them when they go to cast their ballots on the questions in March.
Feedback on the article, “Million-Dollar Increase In School Budget,” was mostly positive, but we did get trashed by one reader:
This is such crap reporting. Its 350k +/- over last year. Yes 991k was added, but thats due to the tax cap number being lower than last years budgeted number. Click bait headline.
Chris Dolloff
First, about that “click bait headline” — the Liberty Independent Media Project is funded through donations and subscriptions, not from advertising, so the number of “clicks” on an article is irrelevant. We appreciate having a large number of readers or viewers, but the number of clicks is of no real significance to us.
Chris claims that increasing the proposed budget by “991k” (the number actually is $999,181) is due to the “tax cap number” — by which it appears he means the spending allowed under the tax cap — being lower than last year’s budget. It’s true that the proposed budget, before the amendment, was $11,331 less than the current year budget. The cap limits the increase in the tax assessment to the seven towns comprising the Newfound Area School District to 2 percent per year. For the 2021-22 fiscal year, that came out to an allowable increase of $280,512. The assessment to the towns in 2020-21 was $14,025,599, so the tax cap allows the assessment to rise to $14,306,111 in 2021-22.
Now, adding $999,181 to the budget, as the amendment did in order to prevent the elimination of junior varsity sports and a number of other offerings seen as critical to students’ educations, means that the assessments to the towns would increase to $15,305,292 if voters approve the budget article at the ballot box. Put another way, taxpayers of the seven towns will be paying 9 percent, or $1,279,693 more than they did this year in order preserve the programs that were to be cut or eliminated.
Where Chris got a $350,000 increase is a mystery.
Digging Deeper
For those interested in looking farther into these numbers to better understand what the options are in March, we asked School Administrative Unit 4 Business Administrator Robin Reinhold to first confirm the numbers and then to explain the tax impact of the proposed budget as amended, as well as the impact of the default budget, if voters reject what’s now proposed.
The cost of restoring the items that were cut, as noted above, brings the local tax assessment to $15,305,292. That cost is spread among the seven Newfound Area towns based on the “average daily membership” or school enrollment by each town, as shown in the chart above. Alexandria taxpayers would be responsible for paying $2,974,274, about a $450,000 increase from this year, based on an estimate of last year’s assessment.* Bridgewater’s share would be $1,151,699, a $30,000 increase; Bristol, $4,708,059, a $220,000 increase; Danbury, $1,878,831, a $336,000 increase; Groton, $573,816, a $13,000 increase; Hebron, $698,394, a $278,000 increase; and New Hampton, $3,320,218, a $374,842 increase.
Note that the $999,181 budget increase was said to be sufficient to replace the programs, despite the actual cuts adding up to $1,579,566. Asked to explain the difference in the numbers, Robin explained, “The amount amended, $999,181, was an amount calculated to ‘level fund’ programs and provide an adequate education. The additional cuts will represent items that the school district will not have funding for in FY22.”
What those items are will be left to the discretion of the school board.
Should voters defeat the budget article, a default budget will take effect, changing the assessment to the towns to $14,946,904, or a $921,305 increase from this year. The breakdown by town also appears on the above chart.
Asked whether the default budget would provide enough money to bring back sports and the other programs that those attending the deliberative session said were important to them, Robin replied, “If the operating budget is defeated, the default will become our budget for FY22. At that time we will have to determine what cuts will make up the $358K loss.”
*Note: The projected breakdown among the towns published in last year’s budget package was adjusted during the year, so I recalculated the amounts based on the final total assessment. I did not receive a final breakdown for 2020-21 from the business administrator.
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