Sandown’s school taxes are estimated by the district to be going up 9% come November. That’s an extra $500 per median home in town. Other towns in our district aren’t hit quite as hard but they are all going up not inconsiderably.
For those curious, this was the sheet the school board was working off last meeting before it voted to move $500,000 from a reserve fund into the surplus in order to mitigate the large tax increases forecast.
TRSD 2017 Budget – Tax Rate Comparison 08172016 (2)
With the additional half million in surplus, Sandown’s estimated school tax rate increase will be around 9% and Danville’s around 4% – by the district’s estimates.
These tax rates make it possible to fund unlimited legal expenses.
Before the $500,000 was added to the surplus, the 2015/16 year ended with a whopping $3,350,000 surplus. ($3,577,000 minus encumbrances but not subtracting Capital Reserve).
In other words, Timberlane operated in 2015/16 at a total cost of $65,039,839, compared to a budget of $68,616,667. You may recall that in the winter of 2014/15, we proposed our Responsible Budget of $65,000,000 (which would have gone up by $98,000 due to the support workers contract warrant article) – so the district actually operated at a lower cost than we proposed. And none of the scare stories came true – remember threats about draconian cuts, and fees for athletics and busing?
timberlaneandsandown 
6 or 7 years ago I made the same plea at a deliberative session. I proposed a $5M reduction in the proposed budget, which would have left the district $1M MORe than they had spent the previous year. Mr. LaSalle read off a list of 39 items totalling $9.2M in cuts that would be “NECESSARY” if my motion passed. When I asked him why he would have to cut $9.2M to spend $1M MORe than they spent with all those items included, he had no answer.
This is the usual response when you confront official liars with the stupidity of their own lies.
Your questions at Deliberative Session in Feb. 2010 were brilliant, trenchant and extremely insightful and well-prepared. The lies that followed were rehearsed, transparent and insulting. No legal public hearing on the budget? We say we did, so there! Not preparing the budget according to the law? We say we do, so there! On re-watching that meeting, I am moved by profound admiration of your effort. I also note that Brenda Copp, whose daughter-in-law gives me nothing but grief on social media, was a prime mover in boycotting the public hearing on the budget and refused to signed the MS-27. Humm….
Thank you, Ma’am