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No tax increase in Wilton this year

3 mins read
Assessor Paul Binnette meets with the Selectboard.

WILTON – Property owners will be paying taxes on the same rate as the previous fiscal year in Wilton, after the Selectboard discussed a strategy of maintaining a level tax rate over multiple years.

The rate of $20.65 per $1,000 of property valuation matches last year’s rate. According to Paul Binnette, the town’s assessor, property owners qualifying for the Homestead Exemption will save $103.25 as compared to the previous fiscal year, providing there has been no change in their property’s valuation over that span. The Homestead Exemption was expanded statewide to encompass $20,000 of protected property value, up from last year’s $15,000. Property not qualifying for the exemption will be taxed at the same rate as last year.

While the county and municipal appropriations are known factors, the school budget appropriation remains unknown, after residents voted against validating the budget for the third time Tuesday. The board reviewed different scenarios, ultimately going forward with a $2.77 million local education appropriation, based on the most recent budget proposal coming out of RSU 9. They also looked at a larger appropriation of $2.89 million, matching the amount paid in 2016-17, as well as a lower number.

Ever since the state provided addition funding for schools as part of its own budget, Wilton’s education assessment to RSU  9 has been anticipated to decrease this year. The amount it will decrease has varied from $57,000 to $120,000 to $320,000, depending on which budget was under consideration. The $2.77 million appropriation would represent roughly a $120,000 decrease as compared to the previous fiscal year.

If the school appropriation were to come in slightly higher than anticipated, Binnette said, the built-in overlay of approximately $131,000 could absorb it. The overlay is also used for abatements and other tax-collection related issues; funds not expended for these purposes roll into the Undesignated Fund. That money can be used to offset tax increases or for expenditures such as the Forster Mill deconstruction project, which received $50,000 in funds last year.

The budget also includes the Comfort Inn Tax Increment Financing District collecting $115,795.

Other options include 10- or 20-cent increases in the tax rate. The board agreed with Binnette’s proposal to avoid a “roller coaster”-style tax rate that rises and falls each year, and instead attempt to maintain the $20.65 rate for a second year and perhaps beyond.

“I could not agree with you more with [keeping] the steady line,” Selectperson Ruth Cushman said.

The commitment date for taxes will be today, Sept. 14, with tax bills mailed out either late next week or early on in the proceeding week. The first round of payments will be due in early November, the second round will be due in May 2018.

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18 Comments

  1. Hopefully this finally kills the anti-school “my taxes will go up” argument. As many have said – the school budget is not causing your taxes to go up and this proves it.

  2. The only thing no tax increase proves is that enough citizens raised hell and the spotlight shines bright on every budget proposed. Accountability is the order of the day anymore and the community will approve the justification of major monetary outlays. The only reason property taxes did not go up this time around is because the people demanded accountability but had the original budget first proposed been approved…TAXES WOULD HAVE GONE UP.

  3. WOW! It is possible to live with the same revenue as last year. According to some that would be a draconian cut.

  4. Tax spending in SAD 9 is up 23 percent since 2013. Five years annualized at 4.6 percent.

    When spending rises, it has to get paid by taxes coming in from somewhere.

    The school district reports revenue like it has an income stream as a business would do. Fact is there is no income stream just a tax stream coming from somewhere.

    So long as spending is on the rise taxpayers in some form are paying for it. Period.

    The local property tax increases in the past two years has not been that bad. Agreed, however, the district had massive increases 3 to 5 years ago. Multiple consecutive years. By the time taxpayers figured out what had hit them, the damage was done. Tax payers got smoked.

    This was very destructive to fixed income seniors.

  5. “The only reason property taxes did not go up this time around is because the people demanded accountability but had the original budget first proposed been approved…TAXES WOULD HAVE GONE UP.”

    Perhaps town taxes would have gone up, but the increase would have had nothing to do with the education budget.

    “WOW! It is possible to live with the same revenue as last year. According to some that would be a draconian cut.”

    I don’t understand why people think school budget = town budget. That’s simply not how it works. Education is just one portion of what our taxes pay. Since education costs required from the town will go down (as planned originally), the town can cover increases elsewhere without changing tax levels. “same revenue” for the school means they still have the increased costs, but nothing else has gone down in price. Things will be axed.

    “The local property tax increases in the past two years has not been that bad.”
    Those increases weren’t due to school funding. The school has actually reduced how much it has asked from local taxes sources for several years now. The school system has received more money from other sources to cover the increases required by law. At superficial glance, the increased school budget appears like a boost in what local taxes must pay towards education – it’s not. Shall we move on from whatever happened 3-5 years ago? We don’t have a time machine and that budget was approved by voters. Axing the current school budget in revenge isn’t worth it.

    “This was very destructive to fixed income seniors.”
    Increased costs are unfortunate for people on a fixed income, but all costs will go up over time. It’s called inflation and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

  6. Guppy……Spoken like a true banker who creates and then tells citizens that
    that ‘mysterious thing called inflation’ causes all our problems. Inflation is
    created it does not just happen….Please read THE MONEY CREATORS by
    Gertrude Coogan or A PRIMER ON MONEY by Congressman Wright Patman Chairman on the Committee on Banking and Currency 88th Congress 2nd Sesson.

  7. Guppy, the problem is the physical data and the trend.

    Spending is spending and revenues are taxes.

    Spending has annualized at 4.6 percent in 5 years(23 percent total)

    Interestingly, State of Maine help has kicked in at about 1.6 percent annually 8 percent over 5 years. Almost exactly matching published core inflation. This should cover price increases in materials in labor.

    That leaves 15 percent for local taxes another 3 percent over 5 years.

    Working taxpayers are not getting these kinds of raises. So finally, yes looking in the rear view mirror, they figure it out. Where is all my money going…

    They figure it out and are not too happy as they have entrusted school boards and administrators. They conclude very clearly they have been getting ripped off. They vote down not one but two attempts at digging deeper.

    It’s not about moving ahead or back, it’s looking at data and figuring out how tax payers are getting tipped over.

    Frankly, I am lucky enough and I can still afford it but I absolutely understand those who can not.

    This is a force you to leave where you have always lived issue. And, a large amount of the voters do not pay any of the taxes. In fact, the big spending side, encouraged voter turn out to stick it to taxpayers by enlisted college students and threatening students and parents.

    Absolutely ridiculous and it’s exactly the path that was taken.

    I have looked recently at additional land in this area and there is no way I will buy anything with a taxable tie to this disaster of a school district. I wouldn’t even buy a short sale in this district. Get ready because if you don’t what a short sale is, you will know soon enough.

  8. @Refreshing
    Plenty of people (including me) don’t buy into the conspiracy theories. If wages aren’t matching inflation – that’s something to take up with businesses/corporations…. I guess have fun with your one man won’t-buy-land revenge plan? Best of luck.

  9. Refreshing: you seem to maybe be able to identify and respond to trends. What was the overall school assessment tax in crease in Wilton last year, and this year? Do two consecutive years of no increase, or reduced assessment begin a trend? or do you feel the need for 3, 4 or more years of data?

    Since most of the increases for each year are additional services provided by the district, does this increase in services add to your “beyond inflation” or can you accept these services need to be added?

    Great job Guppy!

  10. @Proof In The Pudding
    It doesn’t really matter what causes inflation for this discussion. No one in this school district has the power to stop it. People are blaming the school district for economic forces outside their control. It’s like blaming a convenience store clerk for higher gas prices.

    *What do you have against bankers? Our community has many lovely people who work in the local banks.

  11. Guppy your response makes it clear that you do not understand how money is created. Congress approves money for a project….The private banks
    (Fed) buys the bond and charges the taxpayer interest for using our own money then orders the Treasury to print the money to pay the project.
    In order to pay the interest the banks charge us we have to borrow more
    money at interest.. to pay back the bond. That is why we can never get out
    of debt and that constant reoccurring interest is what causes national debt
    inflation. Abraham Lincoln bypassed the bankers to finance the reconstruction and he was murdered for it. John F. Kennedy issued Executive Order 11110 to remove the power of the private Fed Bankers and
    guess what happened to him five months later. Time to open eyes and minds to the reality of how the world really works…..

  12. @Proof In The Pudding

    There isn’t a single thing in your explanation of inflation that mentions school administrators. It’s also totally off topic and inaccurate. Inflation has always been a factor in economies using currency instead of barter-and-trade (not just the USA). We know how inflation works since it’s not hard to understand. Deflation is the opposite and it can completely destabilize a country.

    For those interested: Executive Order 11110 is a conspiracy theory cooked up by Jim Marrs in his book “Crossfire”. It’s been disproved multiple times – most notably by the Library of Congress. Executive Order 11110 was actually intended to strengthen (not weaken) the federal reserve by decreasing the circulation of silver certificates and increasing the circulation of federal reserve notes. Silver was becoming worth more than the silver certificates representing it. This is a problem if you’re trying to maintain a currency that people can use to buy and trade goods. The federal reserve started issuing small denomination notes – bypassing the problem of fluctuating metal prices. Executive Order 11110 authorized the treasury to issue silver certificates during the transition period if needed.

    About the books you referenced: “The money creators” by Gertrude Coogan was written in 1935 (over 80 years ago). “A primer on money” by Wright Patman was written in 1964 (over 50 years ago). Things may have changed just a tad since then… :)

    Inflation isn’t controlled in any way by our school administration. Your own conspiracy theory version of history even agrees with this. Therefore, it’s unreasonable to blame them for the increasing price of things. They can’t snap their fingers to change prices or print money at their leisure. Our district wouldn’t be asking for any funding at all if that were the case.

    It seems like the only objections to the school budget left are conspiracy theories (that aren’t even relevant). I’m no longer going to even bother responding to those. Conspiracy theorists will believe what they want to – even if all the factual evidence says they’re incorrect. I’d offer to mail them some accurate history books, but we have a wonderful free public library.

  13. @ refreshing. When you do the, “… up 23 percent since 2013. Five years annualized at 4.6 percent.”, thing it seems intentionally misleading to make the percentage look bigger than the annual tax bill we all pay. If you just add percentages we also have to consider the sum of all taxes and add the 100% of our bill by five years annualized? That would make it 23 percent of 500 percent. Humm, not so scary. I think you are using the mathematical calculation of annualized percentages in an alternative way. The definition of annual is once a year and to annualized five years is not possible without compounding. Usually people try to predict a yearly interest rate or investment return by a known monthly figure annualized by the number of months in a year. When you try to do this with multiple years it gets a little more complicated than just using addition alone. Just saying, your methods seem a bit misleading.

  14. @do it right

    You’re points are valid… I could have been nicer about how I laid out the information. I have very little patience for “the lizard-people control everything” type stuff (it’s something I’m working on). Most of that information was for the people reading the comments, not “Proof In The Pudding”. I know that the information I provided is unlikely to change his/her beliefs.

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