Greenland selectmen set 2024 tax rate at $12.99 after fund‑balance debate

The Greenland Board of Selectmen voted on Oct. 16 to set the town’s fiscal‑year 2024 tax rate at $12.99 after debating how much unreserved fund balance to use for tax relief and how much to hold for contingencies.

Chair Paul Stanley led a review of the process the town follows with the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration (DRA), saying the board must file an MS‑434 revenue estimate, an MS‑1 valuation based on the April 1, 2024 revaluation, and an MS‑535 balance sheet form before DRA will accept a selected rate. The board reviewed DRA guidance that ties recommended unreserved fund‑balance percentages to combined town and school operating expenditures.

Stanley presented figures the board used to calculate options: last year’s voter‑approved appropriations were cited at $6,964,000 and current estimated revenues at $2,298,000. The DRA preliminary tax rate returned $13.14; Stanley said that, after consultation with the town’s auditor (Clarkson), he would recommend applying $215,000 of unreserved fund balance toward tax relief to bring the rate down to $12.99. “Our preliminary tax rate came back at $13.14,” he said, and the recommended use of $215,000 would reduce it to $12.99.

The board also discussed the town’s overlay (an accounting reserve for valuation adjustments and abatements), which the staff estimated at $60,000. Stanley flagged a pending abatement by Soft Draw Investments (related in the discussion to the Governor Benson golf course) and said the potential liability there was about $30,000; other pending abatements were described as much smaller. The overlay was presented as a way to cover known or likely valuation challenges without immediately affecting the tax rate.

Members asked whether the school district would return any surplus; Stanley said the school’s fiscal‑year operations produced an anticipated lapse of about $300,000 that could come to the town in the following 30–40 days but cautioned that the board should not assume that money before it is formally received. Board members also discussed the tradeoff between lowering the immediate tax rate and maintaining a cushion for potential warrant articles or unanticipated liabilities at deliberative session.

After questions about documentation (Stanley said a PDF of the final determinations would be provided after the board completes and saves the on‑line spreadsheet), an unidentified selectman moved to set the tax rate at $12.99 for fiscal‑year 2024; another unidentified member seconded. The board adopted the motion by voice; no recorded roll‑call tallies were provided in the meeting transcript.

Next procedural steps noted by the board included saving and transmitting the selected rate to DRA (the presenter described this as pressing a ‘green’ button to send the determination) and awaiting DRA’s confirmation before tax bills are mailed. Board members discussed a target to have bills mailed in November and anticipated a DRA turnaround of about 30 days, with billing likely going out in early December.

The meeting adjourned after the vote.