MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury selectboard recently approved a fiscal year 2022 municipal tax rate of 79.69 cents per $100 of property value, representing a 0.0065-cent decrease compared to FY’21. The new tax rate is intended to cover municipal expenses from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2022. It is based on the general fund operating budget of $11,510,928 that Middlebury voters approved this past March, of which $7,571,924 will be raised through local taxes.

Middlebury selectboard members softened the tax impact of this year’s tax rate when they agreed to allocate $622,706 from the Cross Street Bridge fund to offset spending on capital improvements. The Cross Street Bridge fund contains local option tax receipts designed to pay debt and maintenance for the bridge. But the fund has been receiving more money than needed to cover bridge expenses, so the selectboard agreed to use some of the excess to stabilize the local tax rate.

The municipal tax rate also reflects a veterans property tax exemption ($40,000 of assessed value) and 2 cents reserved for the fire equipment fund. This year, 2 cents on the Middlebury tax rate will raise $195,236.

The selectboard will soon set an overall Fiscal Year 2022 property tax rate for the town that will include education spending. Numbers released by the Vermont Department of Taxes on June 29 indicate an FY’22 homestead education property tax rate of $1.6485 for Middlebury, and a new non-residential education property tax rate of $1.6120. This would produce an overall fiscal year 2022 homestead property tax rate of $2.4454 (a 1.59-cent increase) and a new non-residential rate of $2.4089 (a 2.58-cent hike).