Orford Residents to Dispute Taxes At Tonight’s School Board Meeting

Orford — A group of residents who believe Orford is shouldering more than its share of the Rivendell Interstate School District tax burden plans to raise its concerns at a School Board meeting tonight.

The residents — including a certified public accountant — who formed the self-titled “Orford Citizen Technical Assessment Committee of Rivendell Interstate School District Historical Annual Reports,” are asking for a financial audit of the Rivendell Interstate School District.

The School Board has allotted the group time on the agenda for tonight’s meeting at 6:30 p.m. in the district office, located off Route 25A in Orford.

Many of the residents’ concerns center on the way Rivendell, which runs according to its interstate articles of agreement, determines how new state laws affect its operations — including, for instance, how it calculates each town’s share of the school-related property tax levy.

The Orford committee, for example, has questioned why district administrators for the past several years apportioned the tax burden for pre-K education without counting some students from Vermont. Since Rivendell divvies up taxes based on each town’s student enrollment, Orford’s share has increased.

Established in 1999, Rivendell also includes Fairlee, Vershire and West Fairlee.

Sinkhole Forces Temporary Closing Of Some Upper Valley Plaza Stores

Lebanon — A water main break at Upper Valley Plaza temporarily closed businesses at the West Lebanon shopping center on Monday as crews dug into the parking lot to make repairs.

Residents were notified of the break around 1 p.m. by the city’s email alert system. Public Works crews initially closed off traffic around a small sinkhole between JCPenny and Maurices.

Later, a backhoe was brought in to dig up the road and search for the break.

“The hole is from the water,” said Jay Cairelli, the city’s assistant public works director. “The pipe must have broke somewhere” and washed away the dirt around it.

Because one line carries water from the city’s pipes to the plaza, he said, all of the complex’s stores were forced to go without. Some businesses — including the Gap Factory Store, Maurices and GameStop — opted to temporarily close on Monday afternoon, while others continued to serve customers.

Work was expected to finish at the site around 9:30 p.m., according to the city’s email system.

High Court Rejects Appeal Over New Hampshire Auto Dealer Law

Concord — The Supreme Court on Monday said it won’t hear an appeal from John Deere and other farm equipment manufacturers seeking to overturn a New Hampshire law they say unfairly treats their products like cars and trucks.

The justices let stand a New Hampshire Supreme Court ruling that upheld the state’s Automobile Dealer Bill of Rights law. It was expanded in 2013 to include protections for farm equipment distributors in addition to auto and truck dealers.

The law bars manufacturers from terminating dealer contracts without just cause.

Farm equipment makers claim the law unconstitutionally interferes with their contracts. The state says the law simply merges regulations that dealt separately with auto makers and farm and tractor manufacturers.

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan said the law leveled the playing field between manufacturers and dealers.

— Staff and wire reports