Maple Run Unified School District: What’s bumping up your taxes? | Elections

ST. ALBANS — If Maple Run Unified School District’s $76 million budget passes next Tuesday, local property taxes are expected to increase, again. 

Why? It’s not because of the school district’s spending; it’s the way education is funded in Vermont and the turmoil of the local housing market. 

Maple Run’s expenses are up 9.8% year-over-year, but the district’s corresponding property tax rate of $1.43 per $100 is within the district’s historic low and historic high. The school board tasked administrators with that goal back in the fall, at the beginning of the budgeting process.

Superintendent Bill Kimball told St. Albans City Council Feb. 12 the increase in the school budget can mostly be attributed to 3% overall inflation and staff compensation and benefits. Health care costs alone went up $1.2 million this year, he said. 

The rest of the impact to taxpayer’s wallets will come from education spending as a whole in Vermont and local Common Levels of Appraisals, used as a variable in the state’s funding formula. 

How education funding works 

Schools in Vermont are not funded locally, they are funded statewide. In other words, all Vermont property taxpayers contribute to Maple Run’s budget, not just residents of St. Albans and Fairfield. 

“For example, when Burlington puts a new bond in for a $160 million school, we’re paying for that, as are all communities in the state,” Kimball told City Council. “So we could be flat here in Maple Run, and we’d see increases in taxes.” 

Statewide, education spending is up an estimated 18%. Why? Rep. Mike McCarthy (D-St. Albans City) told the council major themes include overdue renovations to school buildings, an increased need for student mental health support and competitive pay to help with teacher recruitment and retention.  

Maple Run’s spending per student has stayed relatively flat year-over-year, Kimball said, but under Act 127 – a law that directed education money toward students who need it more – the district could have increased spending per student by as much as 10%. 

Administrators could have put another $5.7 million into the budget to meet that limit without affecting taxpayers, but the school board decided against the move, saying it would only further exacerbate the statewide problem (see the 18% overall increase in spending). 

“We have some huge capital needs,” Kimball said. “BFA has some hurting infrastructure. We could have used that $5.7 million, but we didn’t do it.” 

What is the CLA?

In 1997, Act 60 implemented the Common Level of Appraisal in Vermont in an effort to ensure people contribute fairly to the state’s education fund based on the assessed value of their home. 

In St. Albans City, the CLA is 64%. In St. Albans Town, it’s 79% and in Fairfield, 109%.

A number less than 100% indicates property is generally listed for less than its fair market value. A number over 100% indicates property is generally listed for more than its fair market value. A CLA below 80% triggers a community-wide reappraisal. 

Homes in the city and town are selling for more than they are appraised for thanks in large part to the demanding housing market that surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Also contributing to the city’s CLA is the decade-long redevelopment effort that boosted downtown business and made the city a more desirable place to live. 

“The state has helped us invest a lot of money here,” McCarthy explained in relation to the city’s Tax Increment Financing tool. “There’s a give and a take here as well, and this is part of the consequence of having this statewide mechanism and being able to leverage it.”

“But long term, the state is going to benefit significantly,” City Mayor Tim Smith added.

“And we all benefit significantly from having a much nicer community to live in,” McCarthy replied.

The city is currently undertaking efforts to change its CLA. The process requires a citywide re-assessment, and an outside firm has been hired to complete the work. The end result, however, will not take effect for at least a year and will most likely be a mixed bag for residents. Some will see their annual taxes go down, but not all will.

Until then, St. Albans and Fairfield residents will have to face high property tax jumps. With this school budget, a city resident in a $200,000 home is looking at a $646.66 increase, a town resident $475.31 and Fairfield $499.66. 

“This is on top of all the other inflation I’m also paying, and an employer who won’t give you a raise because everything else is going up as well,” Council President Chad Spooner said. “We need to do something.” 

Solutions to the problem 

Last Thursday, Act 127 was repealed in the state legislature. The bill sought to provide better funding to districts with students who cost more to educate, like multilingual learners and students of lower socioeconomic status. 

But McCarthy said the funding formula for that bill was flawed and does not work in the current economic climate.  A new bill, H.850, passed the House and the Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Phil Scott last week. 

“H.850 gets rid of the formula that’s broken [and] establishes a new one for districts that are particularly disadvantaged,” McCarthy said. 

Under H.850, Kimball told the Messenger Maple Run will see a 1 cent decrease in its tax rate, meaning the 1.43 rate will hold for the coming year. 

The new bill also requires school districts who had crammed more money into their budgets to hit that 10% threshold to remove the extra spend. Districts can move their budget vote to before April 15 to rework their ask. 

McCarthy said that change should bring the overall increase in statewide education funding down from 18% to 12-13%. 

“The next couple of things we are going to need to do are going to be harder,” he said. “I think Vermonters really value their schools, but the way schools look in communities like ours that are growing are different from how schools look in some other parts of the state.”

McCarthy said legislators will need to take a hard look at the state’s smallest schools, whose tiny student populations take sizable bites out of the state education fund. While consolidation efforts since 2010 have reduced Vermont’s number of school districts by 156, a 2023 report from the Joint Fiscal Office states mergers could be one option for creating further savings. 

“There’s going to have to be some difficult conversations, about the buildings, the staffing and the investments that we’re making so that every kid has the opportunities,” McCarthy said.