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January 18, 2024
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Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
thecitizenvt.com
CVSD moves forward Pinned with $3.6 million bond Residents to vote on budget, bonds in March COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
The Champlain Valley school board and administration are moving forward with a $3.6 million bond to complete previously approved infrastructure projects and are asking voters to OK the district’s borrowing for the work. The bond, if approved, would go toward financing a list of capital improvement projects throughout the district’s schools. Residents gave the green light for the projects in March 2022 when they approved $7.5 million bond. But local market pressures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have driven costs up and slowed down the shipment of goods and materials, district officials said. “It’s a difficult ask when the community has already approved these projects,” Gary Marckres, the district’s chief operations officer, said. “It was really beyond the district’s control with the scarcity of companies, the amount of work that was out there ... and the escalation amount.” The school board’s approval means the district will move forward with three ballot items for residents in March. If the $3.6 million bond is approved, the district will continue work on a list of projects, such as the roof of Champlain Valley Union High School, and an upgrade to the school’s HVAC system, among other items. Residents in the school district’s five towns will also have to approve short-term debt financing for new school buses, as well as a budget that officials say may include a school tax rate increase of nearly 18 percent. Thirteen percent of that would result directly from the state’s newest common
level of appraisal, or CLA, figures. (See related, page 1) The CLA compares the assessed value of properties on the grand list to the actual property sale prices considered to represent fair market value. If the two are the same, the CLA ratio is exactly 100 percent. If the properties are sold at a price higher than what it is assessed for, then the ratio drops below 100 percent. Residents in Hinesburg are seeing a CLA of 67.65 this year compared to 78.23 last year. In Shelburne, the CLA dropped from 77.23 percent to 68.70. Charlotte, which had a reassessment last year, has a CLA of 104.49 percent compared to 119.26 last year. That, coupled with the implications of Act 127, put the finances of the school district and others in the area in a precarious position. “We did talk as a finance committee about whether or not we delay this,” Meghan Metzler, the vice chair of the Champlain Valley School Board, said of the $3.6 million bond vote. But, she added, the infrastructure needs are of critical importance for the school’s buildings. “This is life-safety, HVAC, it’s electricity, it’s sprinkler systems for fire safety,” she said. “We think that it’s important for our district.” Schools across the state are facing similarly challenging budget decisions as it pertains to their school buildings. Without funding from the state, districts are left to finance infrastructure improvements on their own. Vermont stopped a program to help fund schools in 2007. But lawmakers say they have a renewed interest in some kind of state-funding program, and it is expected to be addressed this session. School officials are expected to pass their budget this week.
PHOTO BY AL FREY
Champlain Valley Union’ High School’s Thomas Murphy (black) finished 5th in the 190-pound class by defeating Queensbury’s Gage Russell at the Michael J Baker Wrestling Classic on Jan. 13 in Essex. See sports roundup, page 11.
Chittenden school districts ask Legislature for fixes Common level of appraisal affects ‘dramatic’ tax rate hikes LIBERTY DARR AND COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITERS
School district officials are calling on the Legislature to take immediate action to help alleviate potentially devastating school tax rate increases expected for South Burlington and towns that make up the Champlain Valley School District, driven largely by the state’s newest common level
of appraisal estimates that are compounding the implications of Act 127. In a letter to the state delegation, school district members and city councilors in South Burlington say that the impact of Act 127 “paired with a drastic decrease in the CLA this year has resulted in an unprecedented proposed homestead tax rate increase of more than 18 percent in South Burlington.”
“With budgets finalized in the next week and voters considering their options on Town Meeting Day, state relief is needed now,” the letter reads. The top brass with the Champlain Valley School District is drafting a similar letter, expected to be sent this week, that will ask for assistance from the state, See CLA on page 13