Select board adopts corrected tax rates after spreadsheet decimal error

The Elmore Select Board voted to set the town—s resident tax rate at 2.49 per $1,000 and the nonresident rate at 2.68 per $1,000 after members corrected a spreadsheet multiplier that had been inflating amounts.

Chair (Speaker 1) moved the measure, and the board recorded three ayes. The group spent an extended portion of the meeting resolving whether displayed figures represented per $1,000 or per 100,000 units and agreed the numbers should be shown and applied on a per‑$1,000 basis. "So we have three ayes to set the tax rate at 2.49 and 2.68 for resident and nonresident," the Chair said during the vote.

Board members emphasized the change was an accounting-format correction, not a policy-driven increase: the vote adopted the rates "based on all the information we have at our hands at this moment in time," the Chair said. Members also noted the town's tax software could round cents differently and that final printed bills will depend on that rounding.

The discussion earlier in the meeting had flagged a decimal-point/multiplier problem: spreadsheet cells multiplied values by 1,000 in one column instead of the intended per‑$1,000 presentation, which would have produced dramatically larger tax bills if left uncorrected. Committee members walked through arithmetic adjustments on the record to ensure the adopted rates reflected the intended per‑$1,000 basis.

The board did not change policy thresholds or levy structure at the meeting; it approved the numeric rates as presented after the correction and will rely on the town's tax software to finalize rounding.