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Town posts resident tax-impact calculator ahead of $109 million school vote; finance team models $600 average impact
Summary
Staff and volunteers built an online calculator that lets homeowners estimate how the proposed $109 million school project would affect their tax bills; board members and advisory committees modeled scenarios showing roughly $600 average annual impact for an example house in peak years.
Select Board members and volunteer advisers presented a resident‑facing tax‑impact calculator on April 29 to show how the proposed $109 million NEARIE elementary‑school project could affect individual tax bills.
Andrew (Select Board member) and finance staff said the project cost in the model is $109,000,000 with an anticipated MSBA reimbursement of about $35,000,000; staff included a scenario in which supplemental federal or state energy grants reduce the town’s net borrowing to roughly $68.2 million. The board’s finance team worked with the bond adviser and the NEARIE Building Committee to model amortization, interest, and possible operating savings from a different school configuration.
Finance staff and committee volunteer Tim Litt built a public “calculator” where residents can type an address or assessed value and see modeled tax impacts for Fiscal Year 2032 (a peak debt year in the model) and across a multi‑decade horizon. Using the draft modeling assumptions shown to the board, the example for an average single‑family house produced an estimated near‑term, peak‑year tax increase of about $603. For a median assessed value ($868,500 in the dataset staff used), the model returned an estimated FY2032 impact of about $553.
The model uses conservative assumptions on assessed‑value growth, state reimbursements, and operating savings. It also shows two scenarios: a “yes” scenario that includes the NEARIE project and a “no” scenario that assumes district configuration changes and maintenance/renovation of existing buildings. The two scenarios produced divergent long‑term profiles, but staff said the gap narrows over time because debt service is level while inflation and operating costs rise.
Board members said the calculator will be published to the NEARIE Building Committee site and to town communications as soon as minor technical migration steps are complete; staff expects the live link to be made public before the special town meeting.
