BRANDON — Some taxpayers in Rutland Northeast Supervisory Union towns — including Brandon, Goshen, Leicester and Whiting — will be very pleased come Town Meeting Day. Most area school budgets will translate into significant reductions in the local tax rate thanks to lower proposed spending and the state per pupil spending formula.
The Brandon school district, which supports the Neshobe Elementary School, is looking at $4,780,237 in expenditures for 2011-12. That represents a 4.7 percent spending increase, but it also reflects a 30-pupil increase in enrollment this year. With the increased student numbers and the resulting increase in the state contribution, the Brandon education tax rate will drop by 11 cents if the budget is approved as proposed.
Whiting also stands to see a significant education tax rate decrease. The district is proposing to cut spending by less than 1 percent to $505,408. RNeSU officials said that thanks to a fund balance surplus of $7,000, the proposed local education tax rate would be lowered by 8 cents.
Leicester, if school spending plans are approved, will see its tax rate drop by 5 cents after cutting one teaching position and the budget by $36,514 with level enrollment.
The tiny Goshen school district — with six pupils this year — will see the biggest drop in the local education tax rate, thanks to a fluke of the per pupil spending formula. Goshen, which the town tuitions to Neshobe is a captive town, meaning it doesn’t have any education spending choices to make. Goshen taxpayers stand to see a whopping 45 cent-decrease in the local education tax rate.