Morristown sets tax rates, awards contracts for work

The board approved a local homestead tax rate of $2.43 per $100 of property value. The non-residential tax rate approved by the board is $2.57 per $100.

Both rates are roughly 7 cents higher than the rates set last year.

The new homestead rate will translate to a tax bill of roughly $2,426 for a $100,000 home; that’s about $71 more than last year. The new non-residential rate will total $2,571 per $100,000 of property value, about $78 more than the last year’s bill.

In Morristown, the education tax rate accounts for nearly two-thirds of the overall homestead rate. It is $1.49, up roughly 4 cents from $1.45 last year. The municipal rate of $0.94 is up roughly 3 cents from last year.

Morristown taxpayers pay their property taxes in two installments, due in November and May. Unless the select board votes to delay the payment schedule due to the ongoing pandemic, the first installment is due on Nov. 16.

In other town business

Here’s a rundown of recent business undertaken by the Morristown Select Board at its two meetings earlier this month.

• The board approved a loan through Union Bank for $164,000 to purchase a new street sweeper for the highway department.

The five-year loan will be paid off in installments, with two $17,093 payments made per year. Union Bank offered an interest rate of 1.65 percent for the purchase, and the department already has the new sweeper.

• The job of rewiring and updating the electrical system at the Noyes House Museum was awarded to Steve’s Electric of Craftsbury. Owner Steve Sweet, the husband of Morristown Finance Director Tina Sweet, submitted the low bid for the work at $23,715.

• The board approved the purchase of four new air pack kits for the Morristown Fire Department. Each kit costs $7,647 and comes complete with one air pack and two bottles.

Roughly half of the $30,588 needed to cover the cost of the four units was included in the department’s budget; the remainder will be taken from the fire department’s capital fund.

“The air packs are pretty vital to their operations,” Town Administrator Dan Lindley said.

• The town awarded the job of printing the next two town reports to Winooski-based REPRO. The company will be paid $1,395 per year to print Morristown’s annual town reports for town meeting each year. The company has been printing Morristown’s town reports for nearly a decade.

• The board voted to make Kevin Barrows, the current foreman for the town highway department, the highway superintendent on a temporary basis. Barrows will oversee both the town highway and village street crews for the short term; he will be paid $27.91 per hour while serving in his expanded role.

• Town staff have begun the process of reapplying for downtown designation status for the village of Morrisville. Community Development Coordinator Tricia Follert is currently working with state staffers on the application, Lindley said he believes the process will take between six months and a year.

• The town is currently accepting bids to do the work of a town-wide reappraisal.