Tuesday July 3, 2012

BRATTLEBORO -- Brattleboro property owners will not see a tax increase next year after the Selectboard approved the 2013 tax rate at a special meeting Monday.

The homestead tax rate for full-time residents will remain at about $2.65.

The town was waiting to set the tax rate until the state sent in the final education tax information, which arrived from Montpelier last week.

The Selectboard, and the boards of the Brattleboro schools and Brattleboro Union High School, set level funded budgets this year, and after finishing up his work, Finance Director John O'Connor said residents will see little change in their tax bills in the coming year.

Town Meeting representatives adopted the proposed 2013 budget, which requires the town to raise about $12.7 million to meet next year's general fund obligations.

The municipal tax rate, with the locally approved exemptions included, is about $1.12 next year, which is up less than a penny, or about one-half of 1 percent, from the 2012 rate.

School spending, overall, is down slightly, and after the Department of Education figured out the statewide tax rate, Brattleboro residents will see a slight drop in their school tax.

The school tax rate will fall by less than one cent to almost $1.53.

Full-time Brattleboro residents will pay a combined tax rate of about $2.65 in 2013.

The nonresidential school tax rate comes in at about $1.39, down about 1.5 cents from this

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year.

Nonresidential property owners will pay a combined tax rate of just more than $2.51 next year.

Commercial property owners in the downtown improvement district will pay an additional 1.3 cents on their tax rate to fund the $78,000 budget for Building a Better Brattleboro.

Brattleboro's Grand List is up just more than 1 percent, or almost $144,000, coming in at around $11.3 million.

Major improvement projects throughout town helped increase the Grand List.

The VELCO Southern Loop, the Brattleboro Food Co-op and Windham And Windsor housing projects and the Marina Restaurant reconstruction all brought extra value to Brattleboro's Grand List this year.

Most of the properties damaged in Tropical Storm Irene have been improved, and the storm damage did not significantly affect the Grand List, Brattleboro Lister Al Jerard said.

Howard Weiss-Tisman can be reached at hwtisman@reformer.com or 802-254-2311, ext. 279