Frequently Asked Questions

You can always vote early at the City or Town Clerk's Office Monday through Friday during business hours, or you can go online to the My Voter Page and request a ballot be mailed to you: mvp.vermont.gov

For information on Barre City absentee ballots, click here.

For information on Barre Town absentee ballots, click here.

The 1.95% increase refers to our projected expenses in the general fund for next year.  The majority of the general fund increase is due to health insurance premiums (27% of the budget) and salary and wage increases (56% of the budget).  The health insurance benefit is a statewide agreement negotiated for all school employees in every district across the state.  

We have had to absorb larger than usual increases due to this agreement over the last two years, as well as the continued increase in health insurance premiums overall. These amounts are the net results after we factor in the reductions due to attrition such as people moving on, retirements, younger teachers joining the district, and actual benefit plan options.  These two items are part of negotiated contracts and are typically the main reason any school budget goes up, and we have little or no control over either!  This is different from the per-pupil increase (see question below) you’ll see on the ballot, which is 5.99%.  It is very important to know that your education taxes are not going up 5.99%!  Even with the 1.95% increase in expenses, our education taxes are going down. 

Two big-ticket items we do have control over however are the hiring of staff and the development of new programs and services.  Both are very minimal this year!  A few examples that have been added include fairly compensating all athletic assistant coaches ($95,500 total), field trip transportation costs for both BTMES and BCEMS ($50,000 total), and a much-needed math interventionist at BTMES ($75,000).

It's important to note that we have also maximized ESSER Grants to support increasing essential staffing in the areas of academic intervention, counseling, and behavioral support during the pandemic.   These essential positions are not paid for through the general fund by our taxpayers.

Vermont Property Tax Credit is a form of tax assistance that allows homeowners to pay property taxes based on their income, rather than the value of their home.

Approximately 66% of Barre homeowners received property tax assistance in 2022.

When calculating spending per student, Vermont uses “equalized pupils” rather than an actual headcount. For example, the formula gives less weight to pre-kindergarten pupils but extra weight to students in grades 7-12, those from economically deprived backgrounds, and those whose first language is not English. The principle behind the weighting is that it costs more to educate students in certain categories.

Take the "tax rate", multiply that by the "appraised value of your home", and divide by 100.

Example of a $100,000 home in Barre City:
1.3571 x 100,000 / 100 = $1,357

Example of a $100,000 home in Barre Town:
1.2104 x 100,000 / 100 = $1,210

It is important to note that 66% Barre homeowners qualify for income-based property tax assistance through the Vermont Property Tax Credit.

First, it's important to understand why we even have a surplus this year, especially one so unusually large!  The 2020-21 school year was highly unusual.  Spending a good portion of the year out of our buildings and teaching and learning remotely reduced operational costs like utilities and transportation significantly.  Additionally, the staffing shortages that our district continues to face began last year.  Those many unfilled (and unpaid for) positions that we budgeted for (and continue to need!) also contributed significantly to the surplus.  In addition, many supplies and materials were purchased using Covid Relief funds.  

Moving forward, the proposed budget is for next school year, and we are planning to be fully staffed with the most highly qualified people we can attract to our district for 2022-2023.  Fully staffing our schools has to happen if we are going to successfully recover from this pandemic and honor our Strategic Plan.  Staffing is the main driver of expenses in any school budget, and we are planning on having your children's schools staffed with the most talented, qualified people possible. 

Typically surplus funds are placed in a reserve fund for tax stabilization, paying off debts, and capital improvements.  This might include a special article on Town Meeting day asking the voters for approval.  Ultimately, the surplus will go directly to our schools one way or another with the goal of saving us all money in the long run.

The two articles (numbers 9 & 10) regarding transferring money on the ballot this year are directly tied to our surplus funds. We are asking voters to move $600,000 to the Tax Stabilization Fund in Article 9 and to move $614,807 to the Capital Projects Fund in Article 10.

The Tax Stabilization Fund allows the board to use these funds in the future to offset increases to keep the educational tax rate lower. The Capital Projects Fund is money that is set aside to assist specifically with larger facility projects in the district, like roofing projects, equipment replacement, or other things that are large expenses and not included in the budget. The Capital Projects Fund has also been used in the past for unexpected expenses when an issue was discovered and needed to be addressed immediately.