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Committee debates assessment method and treatment of non-mandated busing; switch could raise town costs
Summary
Mr. Walls presented assessment calculations showing operating assessments up about 4–5% and a larger non-mandated busing increase; committee members disputed whether the district’s presentation fully follows the statutory (aggregate) method and raised transparency concerns—switching busing from mileage to ridership was estimated to raise local assessments by about $53,000 (Hanson) and $182,000 (Whitman).
Mr. Walls told the committee he had run the statutory-assessment calculations and reported the operating-assessment change as roughly 4.92% for Hanson and about 4.85% for Whitman; he said the non-mandated busing line shows an increase of about 13.46%.
After applying the stated adjustments (including backing out transportation and debt on separate sheets), Mr. Walls said the combined assessment change would be about 3.27% for Hanson and about 4.77% for Whitman. ‘‘The debt is assessed the same… it’s just on a separate sheet because most districts and towns want to see the debt separately from the operations,’’ he said.
Several committee members questioned whether the district is effectively combining statutory and alternative methods. One member said that, under the law, assessments include both debt and busing and that if components are being pulled out the district ‘‘needs to tell the people how that money is broken out.’’
On non-mandated transportation, Mr. Walls described the district’s use of a mileage-based method that aims to maximize state reimbursement and thereby reduce local assessment; he reported modeling a switch to a ridership model and said the change would increase the assessment by an estimated $53,000 for Hanson and $182,000 for Whitman. ‘‘So it’s not a model that we want to shift to. That’s going to put more cost directly on the taxpayers,’’ a committee member said.
Mr. Kane asked whether a 2020 regional-agreement amendment had been fully adopted and urged reviewing original regional-agreement language. Committee members agreed documentation should be located and shared; multiple members emphasized the need for clear public disclosure if the district treats assessment components differently than an aggregate statutory presentation.
Why it matters: How the regional assessment is calculated determines how much each town must raise on property tax to cover the regional school budget. Committee members warned that shifting away from an aggregate model increases pressure on town budgets and could lead to state review if services decline.
Next steps: Administration and committee members agreed to find and circulate the regional-agreement documentation, to present clearer worksheets showing what is being separated from the statutory aggregate, and to avoid unexpected town cost increases without public notice.
