 So we'll call the meeting to order First on the agenda is to approve the agenda. Is there anything that needs to be amended? Or if not, I'll just take a motion Okay, all in favor And we don't have any appointments this evening, so we'll go right to public comment So if there's anything that is currently not on the agenda that you would like to comment on now would be the time I Have one person in person so Nothing then we'll go online if you have something you can use the little hand button or you can He had the reporter has his hand up Okay Whoops I'm my anti zoom person, but I'm here tonight. So I don't have my hand up. Sorry button. I look at can you wait a second Can you turn it up a little bit hang on? We're gonna adjust the volume All right, we'll try it again Okay, did you have a question for the Herald? No, I'm still getting my tech in order. So sorry. I'm not a real zoom here great zoomer and I have low tech I don't have a friend to configure my zoom. Sorry for that. Okay. Okay Was there anybody else maybe Josh did you yeah, sorry If you can hear me, I just want wondering if we had a could have an update on Camp Brooke looks like it's near in completion and Requesting if they can't pave it if we can maybe get it, you know a dirt road temporarily So I saw your pictures. So thank you. We don't have a drone. So that's very helpful I actually sent them to the federal highway guy. So thank you so much Actually, you're right. It's coming along good. No, they won't we won't open it Until it's paved. I asked them about that already because I did ask for one lane There's still as far as I know that they're still shooting or as far as I know I spoke to someone got a message the other day They're still shooting for the 26th To be complete and they're gonna bring pavement in out of Massachusetts and install the guard rails I asked for one lane and they said no that they because of the were other work that they're gonna be doing They want to get in and get out. So but anyway, but I did see your pictures. So thank you very much I saw that they had backfilled it and but you're the drone pictures are Really helpful to see so I appreciate Friday the 26th is a Friday up All right, that was my way of keeping track is you know on a Saturday or something I'd go up there but you know, they they seem like they purposely parked the equipment across so no one dares try crossing it, but You know, we hope to get any connection we can so hopefully it's the room later Yeah, hopefully I haven't seen any you know, please. There's no crazy weather But right now at least they've got the culvert and they've got it back filled the wind walls a port everything's looking great So they're still on target to halt pavement in out of Massachusetts and They have a plan for that parent that Massachusetts they'll extra heat it so that they can get it here to get the compaction they need and Lafayettes is all on board to install the guardrail. So Fingers crossed it's done before the 26th, but I'm just trying to be cautiously optimistic Yeah, and the stormers was getting so thanks. Thank you Just for curiosity does that I know we were sort of coming up on the Limit of if we extended past a certain period of time. We weren't fully funded. Are we still in the clear with that? We are still in the clear. Yes It's hard to keep all their we'll wait until they It's all good until it's not good, right? Yeah, anything else online follow anything. Are you good? No, I'm good. Thanks. Okay. Oh You'll turn it over first on the agenda is to talk about the town meeting warning. So there's a draft copy for us So the only I was telling Dave Eddie the only odd thing was Jim when you write the articles like article two Straight on but the ones that are where someone passed a petition for example article number six You have to use the wording that they got the signatures on But I did put in parenthesis in italics additional some because I wanted people to understand that That was additional to what was already in the budget So that's why that looks a little bit different than the others petitioned saying or we put it in saying additional some for them I made that change Jean has his hand raised to So Since Randall, no since Royalton pulled out of the I rec I didn't I just didn't I didn't put in another Warning with that on because they had pulled out. So So that's I think the only thing that I had saw And it just goes gonna pose the question. So we if we go through so article one is basically the Australian ballot piece and then our article two is the budget so it follows in line and then the next two are areas that Could have or can be an appropriation that's inside the budget That were add-ons or that we had this determined to be add-ons, right? and Then article five goes to which is typically the social services Article six would be an additional to a so social services there. So that all winds up But then article eight. I'm sorry article sevens and White River Valley ambulance by article eight the 3000 for the Playhouse, I wonder if that should be Like after four but before five that way you keep like the Because isn't it hasn't been an appropriation You voted on it last year because they won the thousand dollars last year. So they were on last year Yeah, so I think I I mean I did I think honestly I just use last year's morning and I just got one or it's maybe just to move it around Organize it so because I see three and four as like the appropriations. I would see that as an appropriation So just move it above the White River Valley like six Six is an additional to the social services. So that makes sense to keep that one right below that. So basically make Number eight be five seven. Oh five. Okay, sure that way they stay together in there Yep, so I can I guess I mean unless somebody else sees it differently. I just I can do that. We can make it So it would be a library food shelf And then it's the social services then it would be South Royalton area senior center and then you could put since this is also an additional Oh, I guess it's not so do you want it after the senior center or before the senior well I like the senior center because it is additional because well, I think the good part about the The way you have it now five is the social services. Yeah, six would be the additional 6,000 that somebody's looking for right, right? So put so put the playhouse before number five Yeah, that's what I was thinking like you would do three four and five would be those I can move it appropriations like it doesn't affect the signature page so I can just move them around It's not those are appropriations and then six and seven would be Social services and then then you have the White River Valley and well, it's you know, you're Done for that. Is that make sense or? That was the only big thing I saw Jean. Did you have your hand raised? Yes, there is a misspelling in okay, we're six and article Nine the phrase is not for profit. I know on for profit Well, the the trick is their gene is that's how they petitioned for it So we have to make our articles match I agree with you, but I can't change it because all their signatures were on a petition that said non for profit So I got a I have to leave it because that's what was petitioned and it was the same. It was the same Yeah, they both said not and it threw me off too But since the voters signed that petition we have to put it in as is So is it possible to change the position the petition for the future? That would be up to them if they did it. I don't they this was not no they crafted their own Yeah, the way they just have So do you see what I mean Jean I Yes, I do Agree with you. I don't think that's a substantive change. I think it's an editorial change I don't know if that matters if it does matter. That's fine. I just I Just noted that Yeah, I think that maybe the I don't know who used to is chicken and egg who used which one but they I was funny that they Both used it as I saw I thought the same thing. So there's multiple ones. There's two that say not they draft their own petition So this was their wording and that's what they got signatures on but it was funny that they both used non for profit I was like I was surprised. So I put it in there that way I think Paul had a question Did you have a question Paul? Oh Yeah, about the Lister Article 10. So yeah, can you hear me? Okay? Absolutely. So article one you talk about the officers being voted on I know those three listers Yeah, and then article 10 we're looking at Eliminating possibly eliminating the office of Lister Right. So does that mean that The they'll they'll they will be on the ballot that people go to vote for during the day Either with names or or write-ins or whatever But then if this goes through an article 10, though, that would be eliminated Those votes. Exactly. It's one of those weird things that if we were still voting by from the floor We would have voted for moderator town clerk and then we would have had to vote article 10 before the listers came up Yeah, it's kind of this weird I was talking to Rick Benson about it and on the ballot There'll be nobody running. So I'm sure there'll be some write-ins if anyone actually made the 30 And it goes through they'd have to resign but yeah It's just one of those weird things just like the fact is that per statute this vote number 10 has to be done On a paper ballot. So that's also another weird twist to it. But yeah, it's that it's funky There's no doubt, but that's the reason behind it. Okay. Well The only the only other one was the I rec vote, you know that we went through at the last meeting Was a tie vote and all that stuff Yeah, but it's not on because Royalton is not was not going to support it. So Royalton was putting it on so then it was a mute point because It was us them and they were the bigger one. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome that point would it Would be best to move article 10 to article 2 after the one and dissolve the listers That's not gonna matter because it doesn't matter at that point It won't matter because you are you're voting Australian ballot all day till seven o'clock So it seems more sensible to kind of stick with the money the way you normally did it And and that one has been like I said a paper ballot. So Just gets ridden in for a list or position doesn't have to take it. That's right. No, I don't have to resign Exactly, exactly. So I just need you guys if you sign this page I can redo the There if you prove it here, so we're just so right now the only change would be removing eight article eight will be article five and then Yeah Sequentially will be changed numbers from there So any further amendments to the Warning if they see anything else One quick thing one quick note. So in theory though other folks that are on the floor could call for paper ballots on any of these articles Think of course. Yep. Just like always same rules apply. This one just has to go that way Yeah, I think Dave's right you have to ask for a paper ballot seven people have to agree So any other article could but this one has to go Also kind of weird Move to approve the 2024 meeting morning as amended Okay, all in favor All right, so as we're doing that we had a resignation from the equity and inclusion committee james key And he had a write-up in the packet It do you know Moving out or he didn't say I sort of doubt he's leaving. Yeah, just really just established his farm. Yeah Yeah, I mean, I typically don't see him this time here obviously because the Because the stuff and he said he was going to be designing he's got too much on his plate And I knew before he had the summer which was sad like all of his hives died and I guess that's kind of an odd occurrence And so he was working through that. Yeah, it was real plumber Nice. Yeah, super nice guy. Okay. Well, I didn't know if maybe he moved. No, he didn't So just need a motion to accept his reg na resignation Okay, all in favor Again, if we don't then that means he's still there. Yeah, that's right. So gene Sorry james. We turned you down gene. I don't need you to come by and sign the warning tomorrow. You're all set I have to send it to um The town reports going to the printers tomorrow morning. So um, but thank you and Um designation of stitzel page and fletcher as attorneys for tax sale collection So this is something you have to sign every time we do it and we're moving forward Hopefully our plan is at this point to have a tax sale in march. That's when we did the last one wasn't marked. So You already know what properties We have yep. Well, we have a list of properties that have already gone to the lawyer And they would be going to tax sale for delinquent property tax and or delinquent water sewer So they've already gone and they've already received their first letter from the attorney so there's still time for them to make a payment make a plan and and um And not go to tax sale so based on last year's Let's say first round of letters versus who went to tax sale. Was there in what percentage of those people ended up Being in tax sale 20 percent or maybe I would say Yeah, probably 20. I mean, there's some that sometimes the the ones that have ignored you for a long time But then they get a letter from attorney those people generally you're like, oh, hey, you meant business, right? Come by and make a payment plan or catch up. So um, are we looking at a large number of individuals or no No, but some of them are the same, you know We have a couple that are repeats that we've done before and I talked to the lawyer about that Huh frequent flyers. Yeah. Yeah, we have one out on Oh and he's Bethel and they've been a regular occurrence and as the attorney is it worth it to go up to tax He's like I've already searched that property and there's probably not much action So he's like for the small amount you should just put it out because someone might buy it Okay So at this point it would just be making a motion to authorize Myself to sign on behalf Yeah Second, okay all in favor. All right I've got the minutes julie. So don't worry about it You can you can just enjoy And I just need to fill in the blanks Okay, well you can if you want To whatever you want it along to you and you can use it. Okay And then we just have the annual certificate of highway mileage Ending that's their year ending. They say 210 25. Yeah 24 So as you can see they already I had sent him the information about Right road so and all the backup so they put it under and you can see under two and three where they did that So we just subtract the mileage change the total and then you all sign at the bottom Town clerk signs it and then I get filed and land records and sent on to Um v-trans. Okay Right, so just need a motion to approve So moved Okay, all in favor Hi All right There's enough signature spaces for you guys here and here so A lot of sign in your life is away tonight That's changed And We are looking at um selling the 2004 f 550 rescue Yeah truck What you guys had talked about when you knew when we bought the other one that you were going to be selling it This just gives Dave I don't know when the sales going to go through so it just gives him the authority to sign the title and all the Paperwork to go with it because we're going to sell it through think fire tech out of Randolph They actually have a pretty they've sold before and they have a wide Swathe of people, you know, they're nationwide. Was it still I can't remember what the dollar figure was on it when we I think we were new purchase We were hoping we're hoping hoping for like 30,000 I think it's the price and hopefully we're hoping for higher than that But I think that's what we were kind of looking at so it comes in a little bit less than that I think we're gonna have taken some money out of Dave's his current year budget to offset the difference, but And when would the new one get it's already in service. Oh, it's already in service. Okay Was there an opportunity to put a picture of it in the town morning? Nope. No, because it's not lettered Oh Undercover, right exactly at least last I knew it wasn't another cover rescue Last I knew it wasn't lettered. I could be corrected. I don't know but last I heard it was not lettered So nice where we're at but so next well, maybe they can park it out there at town, you know Usually a town meeting when we get something new we park it. Oh do they Yeah, we've done that in the past they'd park the tell Dave to drive it over I do have a We do have a very nice picture in the town report of they had decorated the fire truck like lights and stuff So there is a really on the first on the dedication page. There's a really nice picture of the fire truck That's all light up. It's like Christmas lights. It's pretty fun. Just for curiosity. Does that When they sell that does that go back into the fire department's budget or goes into the fire capital? Okay, Radis one capital fun. Got it. Yeah, cool. We don't give them that. I like knowing how it all moves around Do not give them that money Uh-huh. It goes back in. I yeah, then they could use that to reinvest. Yeah, it gets deposited back into the fire department's capital Great And the um, so we just need a motion to approve that so moved Second, okay all in favor Hi Hi with that James. Yep, gotcha All right, and then uh discussion of the sale of the cruiser. So now that Now that things are moving forward on Um, having winzer share Yeah, he approached all you know, there's the opportunity to sell the cruiser if we want to or Yeah, he actually the sheriff actually called me the other day That's why it's in here and asked what we were doing with the cruiser and he said that He didn't he thought it would make a good detail car for like somebody, you know, sitting on the interstate at a You know when they're overseeing work or doing work or whatever So he felt it would be a good detail car I told him that the slack board had not yet decided what was going to happen with the vehicle. Um And then I anticipated at least we'd hang on to it. I mean Until the end of june Just because that's your first contract with them But you could certainly there was talk about holding on to it Then there was talk about selling it and he is interested in purchasing it. Is there like do we have a Do we know what the blue book on I haven't looked I didn't even look I guess then cross Based upon what he's looking. I mean, I'm gonna make it up. I'm sure he only wants to pay about a thousand dollars We're gonna pay ten thousand dollars for it or I'm sure he wants to pay very little for it. Um as you know, but I know we bought in massachusetts I can't remember exactly what we paid for it at the time right now, but wasn't ton, but um I didn't know if you wanted to hold on to it until the end of june or or You definitely got to hold on to it till after town meeting to see what happens but Right and we had talked about it In terms of like do we hang on to it? To make sure that we like this new setup and that it's functional versus maybe in a year we realize. Oh, actually, let's revert back to An in-house service versus a contract and service, right? It's just one of those things if you have a car sit, you know, what happens, right? And it's also like if somebody's making us an offer We can get that money now versus letting it sit and it's not doing anything for us You know, and I think oscar will use it part time because he knows if it goes through He'll be done in june and he may use it until then that was obviously his deal that he made with a prior town manager. So Maybe he I'm he also had his own vehicle. So he'd be willing to give it up now. I'm sure but um So I don't know what you want to do I I did not do any research into what the blue book is and I'm all happy to do that and can come back to you at Another meeting or you can we could wait and put it on the agenda for after town meeting Why I would definitely think that we probably should wait till town meeting day to make sure that that is what everybody voted in and then If we get a handle of what it's worth and what somebody's willing to I mean at the end of the day It's only worth what someone's willing to pay exactly But if the blue book is $10,000 only going to give us two for it, then is that even worth it? You know, right, right where if they're going to give you market value for it, then maybe it's something that we unload Do Do what do we have in the cruiser fund now? Because we'll have to Will we have to dissolve that? No No, you can move it to another capital fund I want to say you only have like five or 10 grand in there And then how would we do that? Can we just make a motion at a board? Meeting to yes to dissolve that move that to Capital fund or we have to do that You know, I don't believe you have to do a town meeting I believe that you can make because you have the select board has the authority to spend the money They are out of the out of the front. So you could certainly move it to Highway equipment or whatever you wanted to do with it. You could move it out of there Yeah, well, probably not Or or you know like Would it be worth I'll make it up. So we have $5,000 in there now and let's say they give us $10,000 for the cruise, right? So we have 15. Would it be best for us for at least a year to just leave $15,000 in the cruiser fund? That's not gonna hurt me Just in case people say, wait a minute. We don't like this. We want to hire our own person back And you know, at least then we have money right. It's not hurting anybody to leave it, right? No, it is absolutely not see how it all plays out and then move it if you're like, this is great Let's do it or doesn't hurt me Keep it in there. That might be the best. It might be and that no it doesn't It doesn't 5% interest that Yep, and look at it Okay, so So sometime between now and tell me they would just get a book back on it and then we can talk about it again after To look at that and see what it is You can always pick his brain and Ask somebody's well. Oh, it wasn't mine. You know, he didn't throw a number at it. He just was obviously, you know He wants to spend as little as possible. Like he was doing me a favor But I know just I know there's a lot of individuals out there that obviously you'd have to take some pieces out of it But I know there's a lot of individuals out there that are tired for a personal vehicle. Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's a dodge charger It's like having you know Yeah, or they like to have used police vehicles, right? Yeah I'm sure you could get top dollar for it. Yeah So I will look at what the blue book value is I had to ask oscar what the mileage is on it And then we'll take a peek I know he did it but so then yeah, we got that as well. Yeah, so we'll wait on that Anything on town managers report. So the postcards people have already should have already received the postcards Saying that you know that the town that they could pick up town report that'll be online It's going to the printers tomorrow. That's the plan. We've edited it all It's ready to go. I have to take it to spalding press scan it and then take it to spalding press tomorrow So town reports will not be mailed to your home Um, you will be able to pick them up and they're also once it's done There'll be a pdf free to read on the website and the once we do that We'll put a note on front porch forum and facebook that it's that it's How many person pick it up or that people can read it online Um, I appreciate that you've been doing and I feel like the town in general You know has been doing more sort of use of front porch forum And I think it's been really really smart and to the town's advantage Like I like seeing that sort of tick in our use of it I think it really kind of gets the word out or reminds people that maybe Had intended to come to a meeting. Oh, yeah, that's happening like it's it's yeah been really nice to see it Yeah, I like front porch forum. I personally I personally do not like anyone like a four or five day notice Like, you know, if you got to get groceries and you live on a back road do it now Yeah, all the all the all the but it really yeah, yeah Yeah, it's been smart. Front porch forum. I find is very useful and and and I like it. I I'm still finding there are people out there. They're still confused about the Australian ballot thing So keep having people approach me. But like, you know, all right So so is there a town meeting because isn't it all being done, you know voted You know town meeting committee's been doing and has some publicity Planned and I don't know how much I don't know the details of it. I just know that they've been I just put something in town before for them things, but yeah So people need to understand that you will be voting Australian ballot from 8 a.m. Until 7 p.m On town meeting day for elected officials. You'll be electing new select board members public trustees of public funds uh town moderator town clerk town treasurer But town meeting itself will start as always at 10 a.m. You will be voting all the other articles from the floor budgets, etc And you can vote during town meeting for Australian ballot be held in the same building just not in the same location so so while we're talking about this I think that We have been talking as a select board and and as individuals and about Taxes and last meeting Paul had asked me, you know, how many cents on a tax rate and I teased paul and said I do percentages Chris is the penny on the tax rate guy So, uh, the amount that we had was wrong. I was using 25,000, but I believe in hindsight It should have been 21,400 So I did change the corrections in town report to reflect that how many pennies on a tax rate But still we're looking at about three cents on the tax rate for The base budget that the select board put forward the additional articles of the playhouse um The library additional money for the library uh additional money for the food shelf and the additional money for the senior center Royalton senior center will be an additional three cents on the tax rate so That No, that's that's already included. We include that in the budget. Yeah, it's just on the separate line. It always has been Yeah, so So when we talk about that pennies or percentages on the tax rate What I tried to make clear in our budget summary this year that'll be in town report is that is the municipal tax So when everybody gets their tax bill, uh, sometimes people forget that we bill you for school tax Even though we have personally no control over school tax. So we're collecting Municipal taxes as well as school tax. That's a state law that the municipalities collect school tax so One of the things that you should realize is the school tax Currently may be going up 12 cents So that's three cents for us three cents if the additional articles pass And then 12 cents for the school So that's a lot of sense on the tax rate So I was hoping that chris jarvis since he's the vice chair of the school board um could explain that a little bit because Municipal tax is easy to explain. You know, we raise a percentage off the grand list Ta-da That's it school tax involves yield and common level of appraisals and and things like that so um When so it's something for you to keep in mind and I also did publish the date In town report, which is something we don't normally do of the school meeting So because your school budget is not voted australian ballot Your school budget is voted from the floor and you take turns because you're a unified district this year You'll be voting in beffel last year. You voted in south royalton and it was a very Small turnout. I've heard as just as few as 60 people passed a yeah 12 million dollar Is it 12 million 12 million dollar budget? So this year it will be in beffel and we urge people to attend um So i'm gonna let chris explain for the record because it's confusing to me Do you know the date of the school meeting? I do, but I can't tell you right now because I don't have it in front of me um, I can look it up It's Huh, you can look it up. Well chris is looking at Pam told me today and I remembered long enough to type it into town my drop work at the town report But so can you explain school tax the yield? common level Well, just to kind of I mean dave knows back up a little bit. So the governor went on record about Maybe about two months ago And you know, he came out front and said You know be prepared vermoners your taxes could go up as much as 15 to 20 percent and that was And of course a lot of people You know mocked him and said he wasn't right and there was a lot of misinformation, but It appears now that he was very correct. So So on the town, I mean like chris would say on the town budget the town budget The local municipality has a lot more control over their budget than the schools do so Our budget fluctuates based upon if we want to change any services or like probably So this year for our town budget some of our town budget increases our change in services We've decided that we wanted to have the sheriff's department um do our our policing for us Which has cost some more money and in a majority of the other pieces are inflation related, you know Benefits going up like they always do and in different, you know materials that cost more money and things like that So so that's the the town and then we've had this year Um, so out of the nine years, I've been on the board. This is the first year that we've had actually A lot of other identities reach out for more money. Yeah, you know, so we had Not that we didn't you know, we had the library last year, but um So you had the library again this year the food shelf Which was the first time senior center which had added the playhouse was a thousand that now has gone to three thousand So there's a lot and I've had two other people reach out to me In the last week asked about Other, you know identities for more money that isn't going to make it into the budget because the budget was already moving forward That may Get up at town meeting day and ask to get a something increase. So there's In the economic climate that we're in right now, you know, there's a lot more people in need And I think there's a lot more people reaching out for more funds So that's municipality. The school budget is very complex. So One one of the reasons why I got on the school board Was I just really wanted to understand the inner workings of the school, right? Um And the budgetary process is is very complex to the point that you could put a budget out there now To vote on that may not be the budget that you get so And I'll take you through that and so the school this year Is going to have two informational meetings. I don't have the dates in front of me, but we'll get them out there on the town as well And the superintendent himself Is having three Sessions they're morning sessions or like 8 a.m sessions where he can just go over like There was a new act 127 that was the legislation I'd put in for It's basically the the way in which we Share revenue with children this year So it's a different funding mechanism. So he's doing some things where locals can come in and just learn about that So on the school level, there's three three pieces that typically Form the budget. So you have your common level of appraisal so So your real estate Appraisals in your area. So actual sales. So most of the time, you know in a perfect world It's a hundred percent now as things go up or down that percentage can can increase Or it can decrease and once it gets to a certain point like 85 percent Then it triggers an automatic reappraisal now We knew in Bethel that we were getting close to that 85 percent a couple years ago So we already started the process Of putting together the new appraisals right now That with everything changing the last two years with home prices And then actually the state remark came out and said going forward you're gonna have to Reappraise your you know every six years seven years now. Yep That The common level of appraisal goes on the last three years of sales So If you look at it right now, we had three years ago There was like a stable environment two years ago There was not a stable environment. Everybody started buying houses You know a half a million dollar house was going for a million dollars And last year you didn't see as much movement, but there was still kind of an erratic year So so that three-year average there's two-thirds of the three-year average right now that is weighted down on On drastic number changes and and and what's even going to be harder is next year You're going to lose the last of your stable year. So you're going to have like three unstable years So it's going to go down even more until it gets fixed So the common level appraisal is one piece and ours Bethel dropped like nine Yeah, so nine points. Yeah, and I can go through that a minute. So Bethel's went from 88% last year down to 79% this year Which is a drastic drastic change. Yes, royaltons went from 85 Percent down to 79 so theirs went down as well, but not as much now royalton last year We passed a school budget last year that was less than a penny Increase it was like a half a penny in Bethel Royalton last year if I remember right, I think theirs was up like four cents because their common level of appraisal went down further last year And then normally it took us years to get used to this But normally the other portion is what they call equalized pupil and the equalized pupil is the number that the state of Vermont gives you through the education fund per child that is in your school 67 or 68 percent of the time So it's like, you know, $18,000 or every child you have in your school to give you $18,000 Now so what what how everything all changed is One the state changed their funding formula So they pass act 127, which is kind of you'd have to go online and read it, but basically in the past there's been Budgets school budgets couldn't change by a certain percentage and if it did it could get penalized And the act 127 changed the funding formula, but at the same time It It changed the penalty around for the for the schools So kind of almost reverting back to what what we did Five six years ago with that 46. Did it remove the penalty? Well, it just changed. It's changed it. So So the challenge we have right now is the It was it was a win for Bethel and Royalton school district So the way that the children that we have in our schools actually we we made out really well But there's other schools that didn't make out really well um, so the school we are putting the school budget together and Our school budget is going up about $400,000 now. That's a lot of money But you also have to think, you know, you're getting into a $14 million budget And our school is growing which is good. Those are good things So most schools are shrinking right now. Our school finally has a good direction And we're having more children come into our school system right now So most of our numbers is we have Children inside our district that are actually staying in our district to go to school. So like Let's say somebody that's in Chelsea You know, Chelsea middle school then goes to high school in Stettford, right? So you lose that child, but now more of those children are staying in our school So we're collecting more of that money. We're not we're not sending them out. We've also had Um, children coming in through the winewski valley system So like Randolph had a a mass exodus of children that wanted out of their school And we had nine that came from Randolph now the trick thing without me is you don't get any extra money It's kind of a weird thing, but any kid that comes through the winewski valley system, you don't get any money for Uh, but but it's basically like advertising like, you know, people want to come to our school type deal So the first budget that we made We were going to have a seven cent savings to To Royalton and Bethel and we had devised that we were going to Take the seven cents and maybe give a two cent savings and put the other five cents worth of money away Like in a capital fund to keep building And in our second meeting the bond yield in the state Um was cut half. So normally the bond yield's like 18 and the bond yield is kind of If you take like the educational general fund of this is how much money They raise so either by state local taxes or federal money And then and then the percentage is given out to the um to all the towns to use and The last couple years the bond yield has been very high because there's been a lot of covet money That was associated that they could use where instead of Instead of our legislation actively trying to fix some of our budgets Over the last couple years all they did was this took that money and just You know plug the holes and now they haven't fixed any of those issues that are still out of control And now the federal money has dried up So now the bond yield comes down. So Um, so the bond yield was cut in half. So our seven cent Our seven cent savings that was going to be to Bethel turned into eight cent increase just by the just by um just the bond yield By that and our common level of appraisal in Bethel Went down from 88 percent to 79 percent. So So there was a 15 cent swing just by those two things going down Which is huge huge swings like normally you like a swing is like a penny or two or something like that And then our last revision we found out again that their yield was dropping further And now has gone from eight cent increase to a 12 set increase And we well We've been told that it's likely it's going to go even further But we won't know that till after we vote on Was because they think the bond yield is going to drop again Well, the thing is is town meeting day is done prior to the state officially Setting their yield. So they have until the end the physical year to set their yield So they have until June 30th to set their yield. So we could very well vote in a 12 cent increase And it could be make it up 15 cents or something by the time they figure it out Because they have found now that there is an error in the legislation That they put through with act 127 So So they have figured that out now. So now they're trying to figure out how the lesson Level low because what's going to happen is these communities that would have gotten penalties That aren't now somebody's got to pay for the penalty And what it does it goes back into the general fund Which then gets distributed back out to us, right? So everything goes down further So that's the challenge right now So Now just inside our district. So when we say our district our neighboring You know like the stock bridges and the Um Tunbridge and strafford and all those is some of those towns already are looking at 20 plus cent increases and And we've even gotten word that In vermont, there's there's one as big as 41 cent increase this year so it's You know, I think the governor right now is gonna say I told you so because I'm sure he had all this Info ahead of time, which was he knew what the tax department was looking at I'm sure they said the average common level appraisals here and it's going to take this much hit So that's going to be x amount of cents And then obviously he had some insight into what the bond you get what the yield was going to do Um, so it's a tough year and in the challenge we had at the school board is You know, we put together a very responsible budget and probably we could find $200,000 maybe to cut out of it But we but we have to also it's kind of one of those like if you build it they will come and And we're starting to see a large amount of children come into the school So now we have to continue to develop the services to keep those children coming So, I mean we could have maybe shaved two cents off it, but you know, I think and then they what is the two cent on it Um Now some things that on the school budget, which was really cool is on average in the past We budget for around 10 or 15 tuition students to come in Um that we get, you know, we set a tuition rate. So right now our tuition rate is like $20,000 a kid Right now we have about 60 kids on tuition right now. So I mean It's a good moment. Yeah, it's and then we're also going to be looking at a bond A school bond in november So we're we're looking at building an arts and performance center As well as securing some of the entrances at both campuses and some additional ventilation work Which is going to be five and a half million dollar bond of which Well five and a half million dollar bond which of which probably will be about two and a half million dollars work Of money that taxpayers will have to come up with which over 20 years is like two cents or something like that. So Again, they're all things that we're trying to put in there Right, I have a question. So you said that I'm just for the minute So looking for a bond vote in november for an arts center and securing school entrances Is that just royal tin or baffle too? So the the performance center will be at the high school And then with the performing arts center, they're going to take care of the Back what we call the back entrance to school So that will be redone and then over here in baffle They're going to redo the what we call the middle school entrance because it's only a single It should be double occupancy And they're right now, they're single not to mention you can see holes through the doors, but And then the they'll do some other work in the elementary piece of it And then they're going to do some ventilation work in the library and and royal tin and then there's some When you do things there's storm water stuff that you have to do and things like that So it's five and a half million. Yeah. Well, what was really cool is so Not to go through a whole education thing on this, but So right around the time I think that I came into the area They had royal tin had a bond that they were trying to do a performing arts center and the gymnasium at the same time I don't know if anybody remembers that or And it was a big ticket item Obviously and it got shot down And then they went back out to bond with just the gymnasium and that went through So there were some donors back then that didn't dare put their money up But said like we want the performing arts center and things like that so So about well just as I got on the board two years ago They had started to talk about some people had approached us I'm on the facility committee and about the performing arts center and I said, well You know What would something like that be so we got some drawings and said well, okay It's going to be like three three and a half million dollars for this performing arts center And I said well, you know In order to get it off the ground. I think that we have to Show some money some good faith money in front of it, right? So so we determined that if we could fundraise a third of it You know, if we can get a million dollars with the donations Then at least it kind of looks good when you're when you're looking to bond So they the the first night they got a check in hand donation of a half million dollars from one identity And they have right now they have three other identities That have not disclosed their donations, but one is an identity that basically Waits to see what your total dollar figure is and then they give you a percentage of that So we at our last meeting we gave the final percentage So that donor is now going to Hopefully cut us a check for a percentage of that. I don't know, but it sounds like it's a lot of money And then one of the biggest donors That wanted to do it last time is also going to donate and then apparently there's some There's some alumnus that graduated from royalty years ago that Our wall street brokers or something that we're talking about doing it So there's a potential of you know, a million plus with the donations just for that But you know, again, it's kind of one of those things where Now that you have a lot of kids coming into the school now you got to continue to build those services so like All right, I was talking to the budgets up $200,000 $125,000 of that is because we finally are going to put an sap counselor there which is you know Needed yeah well in this when it comes to mental health. So yes, absolutely And that's a full time. Yeah, I mean any full-time position once you figure in benes and everything it's expensive. So yeah And that person will be not just the high school that go between both schools. Yeah, because right now we have some that Go between so this will allow like one person to one campus one on another and nice. That's a smart move So the school I I hope that people understand that the budget is very fair Um, it's not fair when it comes to us taxpayers Um, but it's it's one of those things where where it's pretty much all completely out of our hands And and we're not going to be the only school that's going to be When I was there we had a six million dollars Six million dollar budget We only had eight hundred thousand dollars that we could work with The rest was like contracts and things that were all decided. Yeah Nothing you can do. So our 14 million How much if you were said you had to cut 400 what would you have to cut that 400 out of? Well, that's the thing is I mean you you wouldn't I mean you would Building, you know, you could cut the sap counselor for 125,000. There's you know, there's another I think there was another 80,000 with some periodicals they want to update, you know, there's things that you have to do I guess all I'm saying is that the people even didn't understand that yeah You can't you don't have 14 million dollars to work with right That's a good point. That's the budget. That's not where you you can't dip into that 14 million. No, take out a little bit in 125,000 for a full-time counselor is with the issues that we are seeing with young people now is That would be a crazy thing to remove from the school Am I a personal opinion the only thing that probably will become it's a hot topic on other that the total dollar is We have about 900,000 that is left over from our last budget And some people are like, well, they sandbagged the budget and it's like no, so what's happening right now is There are still some federal funds that you can get that are on the tail end of the coven funding That we were able to use in our current budget that we didn't think we're going to be available. So But thankfully we were able to pay certain things and now some the the issue we're going to have in vermont is Our school actually did a pretty Responsible thing and we didn't go and add a bunch of stuff when we had extra money A lot of other schools went and added a bunch of Say positions and things that once the money dries up, you're going to be stuck paying for right So we we haven't really done that But we have been able to do and you saw it last year we put a large amount back into the capital improvement fund as well is We've been able to use that money for existing positions And then we take that money and we put it in Capital funds so that we can continue to build, you know infrastructure And there's and there's a large amount. There's 900,000 dollars, which You know, I guess you could put 900,000 dollars towards the budget if you wanted a one-time tax relief of It's about 100,000 dollars for every penny So you could decrease it by nine But at the same time then you're taking away and those potential Infrastructure savings that are bringing those kids here, you know, so that'll probably be a hot topic on so you think the 900,000 That's the plan is to put it if you even get right now. We plan on putting it back in the capital fund to use towards the bond But someone could say we want to use it towards the budget, you know, but Um, well, there's two big schools going on right now, you know, we have two schools. They're old Yeah, that's a good point. The biggest building over here was I think built in 1957 56 or 57 Well, it was about the same time So you're talking about 75 year old schools You're going to be doing a Burlington and uh, oh that's going to happen again And those schools not Burlington, but was it the Essex or? 99 million woodstock 99 million woodstock two years ago when they started the process was 80 million dollar school That now has been updated to 99 million dollars in woodstock. So I Can imagine having to put those out for on vote so but it's Unfortunately, it's It's going to be a tough year tax wise. It just is And a lot of these things are some of it's lingering from the covid stuff. Some of it's lingering from The real estate market and how it's fluctuated so much Well, and that's what happened, you know, when you look at the the common level of appraisal right now is probably looking at 20 2020 2021 and 2022 so That's what everybody went crazy buying and there's such little inventory on the market that people are still paying more than things are worth So we may be looking at a decrease again next year. Now the good news for Bethel is we will finish our We're you know, we started the first year of our two-year rolling re-appraisal. So So 2025 2025 we will be you know, so we have a couple years But the other thing too is I encourage people that are listening to this and and maybe watching it later on on orca Need to talk to your legislators. I mean the fact that there was The change In act 127 so that there was I don't think it was act 127 Yeah So the funding formula, you know the fact that they decided to change the funding formula and Perhaps made a mistake on the penalty so that the general fund had to eat that all the same year that covid money's coming out You know, it that's a big pill to swallow. So On top of all that they all want a pretty healthy raise. Oh, I didn't know that $27,000 to work three months plus a 20 day thing and some Four months a year you'll get $27,000. Oh, I hadn't seen so the part of the thing is we don't normally Here you go. We don't normally spend time At the select board discussing the school or the school budget But this year I felt that it was important because we take the phone calls Of people who get their tax bill and who are unhappy And they automatically In some in a lot of cases assume it's all municipal tax when in fact we are not the largest portion of your tax bill It is the school and our responsibility is we collect for the school We have to pay the school in full by june 30th whether or not we have collected the taxes So even if we have to link with taxes that financial burden remains with the town And we're you know in this state does well, I mean we just have to look at all the money During covet, you know if we agree that the money should have been Sent out there or not sent out here. I mean even look at our town We had gotten a very large chunk of money. Yeah that we could do different things with now There's no such thing as free money, right? And we're starting to see the you know that four or five hundred thousand dollars that we got Well, we didn't oh you're talking about arpa money. Yeah I mean it's all part of the same formula right now you're paying for and and and the issue that I have and with our legislatures is and this was before before covet is We have budget issues in vermont every single year every single year you hear 60 80 million dollar budget shortfalls. What are we going to do? We've heard this since you know for decades now and they had a chance to With the money that was infused into the system to try and deal with those issues while they had that extra cash And instead they just took the extra cash plugged holes on it two years later Now we still have the same issues and now we don't have the money, right? And in some cases people actually started You know bigger budgets because they had more money um, you know, we still have a retirement crisis You know the the retirement um In vermont is is crazy the and the covet money was specifically said they couldn't use it for You know, so you have well, what happens is they just move money around you know, you put it in this pocket And you don't find that one, you know, so I mean you still have the retirement issues in vermont um, we still have the medicaid medicare issues in vermont um, and we still have the education issues and those are all big holes that um, you know when we got the money from the federal government We thought we were all great and I mean look at the last couple years taxes have been flat, right? Yeah Now we're paying the piper, right? So and also too. We have to I think I just believe that vermont has to find a better way to fund School tax than then property tax. Well, the thing is is I thought they had a study committee on so Kurt white said that right They keep coming back to the same thing And there's a group of people that will not Accept uh income tax. Well, they're never going to change part of it. They're never going to change it because Funding the education system through property taxes is the Most reliable way for the state to collect tax from us Because regardless of what the variable is they're still collecting tax from us Now the reason why they stay away from income base is incomes can change, right? So if all of a sudden you go through make it up large unemployment Then you can have less people paying into the system. Then you have less education Now if it's property tax, right? Yeah You're gonna have to pay your property taxes regardless or else what town's gonna sell your house, right? They're gonna sell your house. So it's it's an easy way It's not a fair way, but it's these it's kind of like our e-u system for a water, right? And it's easy, right Yeah, and it's also easy for the state because they're not collecting school tax We are yeah, we bear the burden if it's not paid and we also, you know, we get some like point zero zero I some ridiculous. So I wish I had better news for everybody, but one thing And and uh, I'll pass it on the tree so she can put it on the website and stuff is There are going to be several opportunities for the information else to I think this is probably one of those years Where people really need to take a little time and understand why these changes are happening So the informational meetings, which normally happen and then even the I'll get to you the superintendent's doing some of his own little Things on the side, which I thought was really cool To to make sure that people at least are as educated as possible and understand why things are happening and and my guess is you're probably gonna see at no fault of No fault of the school boards You're gonna probably see a lot of Budgets going down just to send a message to say this is unacceptable. I mean, you can't you know I mean in Bethel 12 cents is going to seem pretty cheap compared to these 30 and 40 centers, right? But they're all going up and it's crazy now in Bethel. We were able to stay under the penalty So once you get to 10 percent if your budget swings Higher than 10 percent is where you get into the penalty We were at like four and a half percent So, um, yeah, but if you're not paying the penalty How do you care? Well Used to be appropriate people spending you still pay the piper. But just in a different way So did you find it you were looking for that on their website? Oh, it's not okay. Which one's on the vote? What when the vote the school vote is and I'm sorry I wrote it probably the evening of time meeting We just I think it's before that we just did our warning I thought it was the Monday night before It used to be the Monday night before town meeting. Yeah, I'm sorry. I can't I wrote it I wrote it down today because I had pam checked for me We just did it We want to do that select board meeting minutes from the 8th I was not here. So Let Dave do that one Any additions omissions on the predicted minutes of December 8th January January, I'm sorry. That's okay I didn't have any I didn't see any chain Well, you good look like the meeting I attended Move to approve the uh, January meeting minutes Second second All right So as far as other communications in the packet there were Let's see how much the survey this is the one I worked on with ellie. So we added a couple questions Just your information on the cla the equalize study results. A rick Benson is looking at the sales study that was done And has a couple questions He's getting answered in the state just to make sure that that is as accurate as can be And then there were minutes from the beffel recreation committee I like the additions of the survey questions. Yeah, those were good. Yeah ellie had some others and like I said We were really looking for something that was simpler to put on to create on survey monkey to get on the website and It'll be the last page of town report like it was another time ago So someone can tear it out and either mail it or drop it off. There's also email address so they could scan it to and Like I said, and I think and we will be putting it on the website be a survey monkey. So and that will be probably a couple of weeks Broken when I went through the packet I know It was a lovely was saying well, you know because they've been long going through the budget and everything and and Like I said, I was uh detree myself. We're all putting the final touches on the Um town report, but so we'll put that information crystal get me the information for when When the election has all the school stuff we'll put it on our website. We'll put it on front porch forum I'm sure the school do the same. We could also put it on our facebook page. Um, so Paul baller has a question You're muted Paul. Oh, he's good. Okay. Here you go. You're okay on the budget that that I'm looking at you You put in a note there that said what the increase would be based on a $250,000 house You know so we can do the math from there and figure out how much mine is actually going to go up Is the school budget going to reflect the same type of information? Not on our budget. It's not. I don't know what the same. Well, they do they do have that They they do kind of similar Let me just see the one that she had here Did you say I gave a number two minutes ago 12 cents. So based on the 12 cents right now, how much? Yeah, that was the town Right. 21,000. Yeah, I think that's what they were talking about So in Bethel right now Based on the 12 cent increase Uh, $250,000 house is $311 and 57 cents a year increase Say that again 12 cents on a $250,000 house is what? $311 and 57 cents more than last year. Yep And in royal tins royal tin right now, so ours is going up 12 cents royal tins is going up 7.9 cents because their Common level didn't decrease as much right, but she said they took a bigger hit last year. Yeah, they took it If you look at the last two years now we're about even. Yeah So um And there's a little different at the school's side of it paul like every hundred thousand dollars in the budget's one penny We're at the town every 21,400 dollars is a penny. So the pennies change a little it works out because You know on the on the Bethel budget on the municipal budget you can do the math and figure out Exactly how much the increase is going to be Based on you know, what's on what you've got on the on the paper here for revenues So it's good to have that information for the school side too. So you can get an idea what's going to happen potentially happen I think when I looked at it last like on between the town and the school this is assuming that This doesn't count the extra articles, but if you just look at the base budget with the school The average 250 thousand dollar house Increase is going to be about 500 a year Three 350 of that's at the school and 150 is at the town level Right right now right and that depends of the and it could go up another 100 or so dollars if if we increase Everything gets put in there. So right and if the yield changes if they have until June It's likely that after the budget gets passed at the yield will probably change even more Which which it's kind of the unfair system that you you vote something and then they still change it on you, right? It doesn't feel No, because we don't we don't get the school tax rate until right before i'm ready to publish tax It's so backwards Now the other thing that they said you could do you know because a lot of times I guess they know the number In april somewhere is you know technically you could do your School meeting in late april or may you know could do it later The only problem is if it gets voted down then it gets voted down Then you kind of start the year with a different your prior your batch of the revered budget, right? But the other thing too is if you know at this point We are still saying there'll be no growth in the grand list So but if that changes with you know a few additions, but we don't really anticipate a lot of growth This year in the grand list so So it's uh, you know, it's a lot and and like I said, we don't normally spend time discussing the school budget, but it seemed Pertinent to ours. I mean if and especially like I said, we're doing the collections You know want people to know look not to say that he'd be available But if you got to get Kirk to start coming back If if you wanted I could talk to the superintendent about coming and visiting one of the meetings and he could talk a little bit Like a 15 20 minute thing on what the school budget really would be like if people want to hear it because I know I think the biggest thing is probably a lot of town folks that use the zoom for us don't necessarily tune into the school one so If we wanted to do that as I could reach out to him See if he wanted to take 15 or 20 he could do it right on the zoom He's a pretty awesome guy and I think we're really lucky to have him. He's a straight shooter See why not it educates it helps educate our voters. So if they're interested and you know, they can tune in so Okay, just and I also reach out to Kirk white because Kirk Usually starts coming to the select board meetings in January and I honestly have been busy and I haven't reached out to him But maybe get him to come to the next meeting too. So Oh another minute just fine. So that's just the one from last time, right? So that's I don't have anything further to come before the board All right, just need a motion to adjourn All right, have a good night everybody