ORFORD — Rivendell voters approved a 5.1 percent budget increase during the interstate school district’s annual meeting on Tuesday night.
Residents from the district’s four towns — Orford, Fairlee, West Fairlee and Vershire — voted, 129-66, to pass the School Board’s $11.3 million operating budget, a roughly half million dollar increase over the current spending plan.
However, some voters worried the increase would be too much for some taxpayers to bear.
They also took issue with rising administrative costs.
“I think education is a great thing. We have to educate our children, but there’s only so much money you can put into these things,” said Orford resident Jim McGoff.
McGoff said he was particularly worried by a projected 28 percent increase in district administrative costs. He pointed out that outgoing Superintendent Elaine Arbour makes $115,000 to work four days a week.
“It’s just too much for us taxpayers. We can only pay so much,” he said. “By raising these budgets every year so much as we are, we’re not going to attract people to come here because they’ve got to pay the taxes in these towns.”
Fairlee resident Peter Lang agreed, saying the School Board should have worked harder to present a smaller, more incremental increase.
“This 5 percent increase, I think, is more than we can bear,” he said. “It doesn’t have to jump out at us all at once.”
However, Orford resident Mark Blanchard argued that those working in the superintendent’s office should be well paid.
It’s those people, he said, who make sure the district is receiving the funds it needs and making responsible decisions with its money.
“I think we are going to need to bite the bullet and be grown ups here,” he said.
District officials said a rise in health insurance costs, which are projected to increase 11 percent, are mainly to blame for the budget.
The school district also is planning a $29,000 increase for snow plowing and a $23,000 rise in legal costs.
To offset those, the budget proposes a $47,850 cut in library funding as well as $79,000 reduction from the guidance department and $24,252 to be trimmed from early essential education funding.
The budget is expected to increase property taxes in three of the district’s four towns.
Fairlee, Vershire and Orford would see their taxes rise anywhere between 4.6 and 9.5 percent, while West Fairlee could see a 4.5 percent decrease.
The district estimates the budget would result in a tax rate of $21.18 per $1,000 of valuation, or $5,295, on a $250,000 home for Orford residents.
Residents of Fairlee would pay an estimated tax rate of $1.81 per $100 of a home’s valuation, West Fairlee’s rate would be $1.82 and Vershire’s would be set at $1.90.
The owners of a property valued at $250,000 in Fairlee who are not eligible for Vermont’s income sensitivity program would expect to pay $4,548 in property taxes to the district.
Owners of a home of the same value in West Fairlee would expect to pay $4,572; and in Vershire, the bill would be $4,768.
Residents on Tuesday also approved by voice vote a $30,000 appropriation to the district’s capital reserve fund.
Tim Camerato can be reached at tcamerato@vnews.com or 603-727-3223.