From the Newton-Kingston Taxpayers:

YOUR SCHOOL TAX IS GOING DOWN FOR THE COMING YEAR!

Your elected School Board has been working with their employee, the Sanborn Superintendent Tom Ambrose, and his team, to complete work to implement Early Intervention and other programs – especially Math! – for better results for the kids, while holding school taxes about level for the past 5 years, even after absorbing increasing staff contracts and other costs simultaneously.

NOW for the fall, in this difficult time, your school portion of your real estate tax is going down.

THAT’S THE NKTA MISSION…BETTER BANG FOR OUR PROPERTY TAX DOLLARS.

Yes, there is more to be done. Progress is being made.

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU, FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND YOUR VOTES.

The article below will be in the Carriage Towne news shortly, and posted on Facebook. More details are on the School Board video, linked on the SAU17.org homepage.

Sanborn Taxpayers Will Pay Lower School Tax
by Annie Collyer, for the Newton-Kingston Taxpayers Association (NKTA)

On Wednesday, June 17, the Sanborn School Board voted to credit back $1.8 Million to the local taxpayers. According to the Business Administrator Matt Angell, the credit could mean about a $0.35/$1000 lower local school tax in Kingston, and about a $0.59/$1000 lower local school tax for Newton.

He stated that that translates to about $105 lower local school taxes for Kingston and $177 for Newton. There are three important caveats to this credit:

1. It is based on current valuations. Individual property valuations may change with building permits or sales. Newton is undergoing a town-wide revaluation, due for completion and implementation in the Spring of 2021, likely an overall increase in total valuation, which generally lowers the tax rates (but the total taxation amount remains as voted).

2. It is based on current enrollments. Right now approximately 54% of the Sanborn students included in the enrollment for tax purposes are from Kingston, and 46% from Newton. That means that Kingston pays approximately 54% of the local portion of the local revenues; Newton, 46%. (Note that Fremont pays tuition to the Sanborn District for its approximately 150 High School students, money that reduces the local tax burden.)

3. It covers only about 70-75% of the total local property tax. Taxes for the town, for the county and for the state portion of education are not included. Both towns passed increased spending in March. The county is slated to have a $800K reduction, Kevin St. James has told us.
Superintendent Tom Ambrose noted that this tax credit is an extraordinarily high one-time event, partly due to savings from the CoVid-19 retraction in services, as well as work by the Business Administrator Matt Angell and the Special Ed Director Jodi Gutterman. Finance Committee Chairman Jamie Fitzpatrick of Newton also credited the Administration and especially Mr. Angell with the completion of almost all the work of the school reconfiguration a full year ahead of schedule, with the resulting earlier beginning of both Early Learning Intervention and tax savings.

The Board also voted to retain up to the maximum allowed of $569K. If not forced to use some or all of this money for emergencies, as approved by NHDRA and the Budget Committee, this money will return to the taxpayers in the following year to help offset school taxes as approved by voters next March. Details are available via video on YouTube and minutes on the SAU17.org website.

NKTA is a NH non-profit corporation with a mission to work for excellence in local government and education at affordable and sustainable costs. Find details and membership information ($20/year) at www.NKTA.vpweb.com.