BRADFORD, Vt. — Voters in the Oxbow Unified Union School District have rejected a proposed budget for their schools that would have resulted in substantial tax increases.
The vote was 145-119 by paper ballot at an in-person meeting Tuesday evening at Oxbow High School in Bradford.
The proposed $23.3 million budget was nearly 8.3% higher than the current year’s. But a series of factors spiked tax rate increases by nearly 23% for Bradford residents and 26% for Newbury residents, leading voters to reject the plan, Heather Lawler, superintendent of Orange East Supervisory Union, said Wednesday.
“It’s about the tax rate,” Lawler said.
Tuesday’s vote sets up a sprint, as the district must quickly craft a new proposal so a new meeting can be held in June. The new budget year begins on July 1.
The district, which comprises elementary schools in Bradford and Newbury and Oxbow High School, was formed under Act 46, Vermont’s 2015 school consolidation law. It is not a stranger to voting down budgets. The budget passed on the fourth attempt in January 2021.
At Tuesday’s meeting, voters expressed a desire to reconfigure the district’s schools to save money, Lawler said.
“All of that is being driven by our taxes,” Lawler said.
The estimated homestead property tax rates in the Oxbow district were pushed up by several factors, including a decline in the weighted student count that’s attributable to how the federal government documents students living in poverty. A lower student count raises per pupil spending, which raises tax rates.
The common level of appraisal, a measure the state uses to keep property assessments in line with fair market value, declined in both Bradford and Newbury, which drove property tax rates up.
Vermont households earning less than $115,000 pay for education based on their income.
The interest in reconfiguring the schools wouldn’t have a bearing on next year’s spending and taxation, because the process to close and reconfigure schools requires public approval, which takes time, Lawler said.
“I’ve let people know, we’re talking about a budget that goes into effect in 62 days,” she said. Any school reconfiguration is “going to take a process,” she added. “There’s a clamor for this process to take place faster than it’s possible.”
Lawler sent a survey out to the public Wednesday morning to help Oxbow officials to shape a new budget proposal. The Oxbow board will need to hold at least one special meeting in the next week to warn a new budget.
