http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20100702/NEWS02/707029909
Published July 2, 2010 in the Rutland Herald
Springfields property taxes go up 5.3 percent
By Susan Smallheer
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD – Property taxes in 2010-11 will be going up 5.3 percent, as the Springfield Select Board Wednesday finalized the combined school and town tax rate.
The vast majority of the increase is due to increase in the Springfield school budget, which in turn was due to the first payment on the $24 million bond used to renovate the town’s elementary schools.
The town Grand List of $667 million grew by about $1 million in the last year, largely due to the tax stabilization agreement with JELD_WEN, a North Springfield manufacturer, is changing to reflect more of its value.
Jeff Mobus, the town comptroller, said that tax bills would be mailed out by July 15, and the first quarterly tax payment is due Aug. 16.
“Obviously I’m very satisfied with the town portion,” said Springfield Select Board Chairman Kristi Morris. “I’m pleased. We knew the bonds were coming on line this year.”
When the Springfield School Board constructed its budget this year, it made cuts in advance, knowing the first principal payment on the bond was due. Before this year, only the interest, about $1.4 million a year, had been in the budget. This year the payments on the $32.8 million school bond climbed to $2.3 million, representing both interest and principal.
The tax rate went up 13 cents, to a homestead tax rate of $2.58 per $100 of assessed value. The non-residential tax rate is slightly lower at $2.52. The school portion is $1.40 for the homestead, while the town tax rate is $1.13.
The tax rate was adopted unanimously by Morris, and board members Michael Knoras and Terri Benton. Board members STephanie Gibson and Johnson Swanson could not attend the special meeting, Morris said.
By law, the tax rate has to be set by July 1, and the town received the necessary information to set the school tax rate only about an hour before the board’s special meeting.
“We had a real narrow window,” said Morris.
Mobus said that the town collected $100,000 more in delinquent taxes than original expected, helping the town budget further.
Morris and Knoras said they were concerned about the lack of funds the town has been spending on maintaining its roads.
Morris noted that most of the public works construction project in the past couple of years had been going toward big rebuilding projects, such as the current project planned for Summer Street, and the major project on Union and Park streets a few years ago.
“Those were major rebuilding and it eats up a lot of a budget,” said Morris.
Knoras said he planned on bringing it up at the next select board meeting on July 12, “if the chairman lets me.”
Knoras said he was concerned about the poor quality of the project down in downtown Springfield last year. “We need to challenge some of these things,” he said.
Springfields property taxes go up 5.3 percent
By Susan Smallheer
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD – Property taxes in 2010-11 will be going up 5.3 percent, as the Springfield Select Board Wednesday finalized the combined school and town tax rate.
The vast majority of the increase is due to increase in the Springfield school budget, which in turn was due to the first payment on the $24 million bond used to renovate the town’s elementary schools.
The town Grand List of $667 million grew by about $1 million in the last year, largely due to the tax stabilization agreement with JELD_WEN, a North Springfield manufacturer, is changing to reflect more of its value.
Jeff Mobus, the town comptroller, said that tax bills would be mailed out by July 15, and the first quarterly tax payment is due Aug. 16.
“Obviously I’m very satisfied with the town portion,” said Springfield Select Board Chairman Kristi Morris. “I’m pleased. We knew the bonds were coming on line this year.”
When the Springfield School Board constructed its budget this year, it made cuts in advance, knowing the first principal payment on the bond was due. Before this year, only the interest, about $1.4 million a year, had been in the budget. This year the payments on the $32.8 million school bond climbed to $2.3 million, representing both interest and principal.
The tax rate went up 13 cents, to a homestead tax rate of $2.58 per $100 of assessed value. The non-residential tax rate is slightly lower at $2.52. The school portion is $1.40 for the homestead, while the town tax rate is $1.13.
The tax rate was adopted unanimously by Morris, and board members Michael Knoras and Terri Benton. Board members STephanie Gibson and Johnson Swanson could not attend the special meeting, Morris said.
By law, the tax rate has to be set by July 1, and the town received the necessary information to set the school tax rate only about an hour before the board’s special meeting.
“We had a real narrow window,” said Morris.
Mobus said that the town collected $100,000 more in delinquent taxes than original expected, helping the town budget further.
Morris and Knoras said they were concerned about the lack of funds the town has been spending on maintaining its roads.
Morris noted that most of the public works construction project in the past couple of years had been going toward big rebuilding projects, such as the current project planned for Summer Street, and the major project on Union and Park streets a few years ago.
“Those were major rebuilding and it eats up a lot of a budget,” said Morris.
Knoras said he planned on bringing it up at the next select board meeting on July 12, “if the chairman lets me.”
Knoras said he was concerned about the poor quality of the project down in downtown Springfield last year. “We need to challenge some of these things,” he said.
What are you thinking? Raising taxes in a dying town? There are enough houses vacant and for sale, let's just tax even more people out. Much of Springfield is blue collar, not well educated and not making ends meet in transient jobs/manual labor/welfare etc. This will push more people into financial trouble... probably will raise the crime rate as people scour the town looking to steal anything they can sell for scrap.
ReplyDeleteMaybe stop wasting money on brick crosswalks that lasted one year before breaking apart or hiring a really poor marketing firm to put a played out logo on the town. Shameful.