School district addresses $39M questions

Is too much of the estimated construction cost dedicated toward wish-list items like improved athletic facilities?

Are there dangerous chemicals in the walls that could blow up the costs, a la Burlington High School?

Why now? Why not wait until Town Meeting Day?

The questions have been asked at a trio of live forums at Stowe High School, in daily long-form arguments in online forums, in letters to the editor, on the sidewalk, and, presumably, at dinner tables all around town.

In the face of all those questions, and as the Nov. 7 bond vote approaches, local education officials last week attempted to collect all those queries into one spot.

That document, along with other information such as facilities reviews conducted in 2015 and 2018, can be found at tinyurl.com/mrx3d5e6.

Taxing topic

Perhaps the most pressing questions about the $39 million bond revolve around what is perhaps the most unanswerable question of all: how the 30-year bond would affect the town tax rate.

According to the district, the projected increase on a home valued at $700,000 next year would be $1,400 a year due to the bond payments, which would be part of the annual school budget for the next three decades. That hypothetical home value would be the figure after Stowe’s town-wide reassessment, which, if neighboring Morristown’s recent experience undergoing a similar two-year process is any indication, is expected to send Stowe’s home values skyrocketing.

“We cannot confirm how accurate this projection is as many factors change each year, including state-wide education spending, the real estate market, and legislation passed by the state of Vermont,” the district’s FAQ reads. “All of these factors make tax projections extremely difficult.”

There are also questions about which property taxpayers would shoulder the greatest tax burden, should the bond vote pass. According to the district, the homestead tax rate — the rate paid by people who own property and actually live in it, an increasingly smaller population in Stowe — is the only one directly affected by local spending.

Non-homestead tax rates are only affected by statewide education spending, a funding mechanism set up in 1997 with the passage of Act 60. Non-homestead taxpayers are people who own businesses in town and second-home owners, a group that includes landlords as well as out-of-town property owners who only visit Stowe or rent their places out on short-term rental sites like Airbnb and Vrbo.

According to the school district, “Increasing our local budget increases our homestead tax rate and towns are not allowed to create any additional tax streams to help fund school projects.”

That local budget would be almost wholly responsible for paying off the $39 million bond, although it could be offset by private donations, or state and federal grants, if such funding presents itself. If so, any tax rate increase could be mitigated by that non-budget revenue.

Vermont ceased all school construction aid in 2007 and remains an outlier in New England, where other states cover at least half of school building costs. That won’t stop the district from trying to get state aid, though.

“Citizens can also help by advocating for more state construction aid and communicating with local, state, and federal legislators,” the district notes.

A new piece of legislation, Act 127, adds a new wrinkle to things. The law changes the way student enrollment is calculated by “weighting” students differently based on demographic criteria, a calculation that makes it appear Stowe has 100 fewer students than it actually does and towns like Winooski have more weighted students.

The consequence of that is an automatically increased tax rate in Stowe of more than 15 percent, and that’s without any budget increases.

Act 127, however, places a 5 percent cap on that penalty for the next five years, which gives school officials hope that a bond could be cheaper to pay down in those first five years before the estimated 15 percent increase is assigned, in the 2029-30 fiscal year. (Editor’s note: A story in the Stowe Reporter last week was not clear about the five-year percentage cap.)

Construction needs

Perhaps the second-most frequently asked question regarding the proposed $39 million bond is: why now?

School district officials asked themselves that very question at an emergency meeting on Oct. 13, and opted to continue along its path toward the Nov. 6 vote.

Ultimately it decided that current discussions about proposed fixes to Stowe schools are roughly a decade in the offing and action is needed sooner than later.

School officials have said that if the bond is shot down, that doesn’t rid the district of the need to make substantial renovations to the school; it will just have to piecemeal them in annual school budgets year after year.

A 2015 facilities study brought up many of the issues that officials say plague the middle and high school campus. Among them, there are not adequate fire safety or ventilation systems; the roof and parking lot are in disrepair; the bathrooms are not ADA compliant; the gym and auditorium are outdated; and the middle schoolers are generally something of an afterthought in the campus layout.

School officials estimate that, of the $39 million in the bond — a figure that is considered the maximum amount that would be spent — only $29 million is actual construction costs.

A source of grumbling in the community is the fact that about 25 percent of the proposed costs would go toward a new track and athletic fields, a new gym and auditorium.

Addressing those concerns, the district stated those amenities “will also have a positive impact on academics as we know students involved in extracurricular activities feel more connected to their community and perform better in all areas.”

Most of the project is dedicated to “essential systems upgrades,” like electrical, roofing, heating and ventilation and sprinklers — the latter of which is simply nonexistent.

In 2018, the school district was prepared to hold a vote for a $30-$40 million bond that would have also paid for construction at Stowe Elementary School, but that was shelved when the State Board of Education forced Stowe into a merger with Morristown and Elmore from which it finally withdrew last year.

“As we all know, construction costs only go up. Every year we graduate another class of kids that has had their experience in the current building,” the district FAQ states. “We need to take action.”