Tag Archives: Act 46

Saint Albans and Fairfield Act 46 Committee Hits the Brakes

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I want to express my dismay at the outcome of the Franklin Central Supervisory Union Act 46 Study Committee’s vote on Monday night. After attending a public forum about the proposed merger and following the coverage of their work, many of us were left with the impression that there was consensus and that some merger proposal would be brought to the voters of Saint Albans (Town and City) and Fairfield for Town Meeting Day in March.

The opportunity seemed too good to pass up. More students in the district would mean tax rate stabilization in all of the towns. A combined governance under one board would offer opportunities to share resources and save money. On top of that the state incentives for an early merger would amount to about $200/yr in property tax savings for a typical Saint Albans homeowner each year for 5 years. Increased educational opportunities for a lot of students AND lower taxes? Sign me up!

The process that resulted the end of the committee’s work seems very strange to me. When I was in the legislature there was a golden rule about committee work: It’s okay to vote no, but don’t surprise the Chair with a no vote. That principle didn’t seem to be followed on Monday, leaving committee members and more importantly the voters scratching their heads.

The end result is that the voters and tax-payers of Fairfield and Saint Albans won’t get a chance to voice their opinion about a merger this Town Meeting Day. They won’t get a chance to take full advantage of the Act 46 tax breaks or the opportunities that the students would have to share programming, curriculum, facilities and more. That should disappoint all of us.

There may be another bite at the apple, though. I hope that the members of the committee who voted no hear from lots of their neighbors and will reconvene to bring a merger plan to the voters in a special election this summer. If you want to join me in contacting the Act 46 Study Committee members, their contact information is available at fcsuvt.org.

A Real-Life Act 46 Experience

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Last night I attended a public forum at Saint Albans City School about the Franklin Central Supervisory Union’s consolidation plan. It was the first time I had seen one of the proposed plans in any detail and I have to say it was reassuring on a number of levels. Saint Albans City School board chair James Farr and Fairfield board member Michael L’Esperance did much of the presentation, along with other board members and Supervisory Union Superintendent Kevin Dirth.

1. The Boards and Administrators Get It

Act 46 has a lot more to do with achieving equity between towns, than it does dramatically decreasing property tax rates or school costs. While the Act 46 Committee did estimate nearly $250,000 in efficiency savings by consolidating into one districts, they were quick to point out that this is a conservative figure and that they don’t anticipate big savings from consolidation in the first year.

2.  The Smallest Town Has A Lot to Gain, But…

Fairfield has about 230 students and the proposed district will be about 2700 students. Saint Albans Messenger reporter Michelle Monroe pointed out that Fairfield has struggled the most with the current relationship between property tax rates and per pupil spending. The loss of a handful of students two years ago caused a 20 cent tax increase even though the school budget didn’t go up at all. The new district would spread the impact of population over all three communities (Saint Albans City, Saint Albans Town and Fairfield).

There will have to be equity in programming, class offerings and educational opportunity among the three elementary schools- and that’s the biggest opportunity for Fairfield in the new district. The hard part is that there will be 9 votes on the new consolidated School Board: 4 Town residents, 4 City residents and 2 Fairfield residents with 1/2 vote each. All members will be elected at-large, which means the two big towns will be able to elect the two Board members from the small town. That was a bit unnerving to some Fairfield residents, but Jim Farr was quick to say- “Every town has 9 votes representing them, we’re going to be one district.” Still, if voters in Fairfield choose to keep riding the tax roller coaster in order to maintain local control, then the plan will fall apart because all three towns must approve the plan for the merged district to be approved on Town Meeting Day.

The Act 46 Committee for Franklin Central S.U. presents their plan for a consolidated district to the public at a forum 12/02/2015

3. The Tax Savings Are Real…

… and those districts who don’t get the benefits by consolidating will end up paying for those benefits to other districts. For a Saint Albans City resident with a $200,000 home the 10 cent break on the penny rate in the first year will be worth about $200, and the projected savings over five incentivized years would be about $1000 for the owner of a $200,000 property in the City or Fairfield and over $1400 for the owner of a similar property in the Town. However given the fact that most homeowners pay based on income I don’t think that the majority of people will see a huge difference in their taxes because of this plan.

Act 46 is going to give the new district’s school board members flexibility and options they never have had  in our one-building-per-district model. We have four school districts and five boards that will now become one unit, with one budget- assuming that the plan is passed in March by all three towns. The transition is going to be tough, but as one City School board member told me after the meeting “we have actually already been working on this for years but none of the prior initiatives passed by the state had enough carrot or stick to work. The only part of act 46 I don’t like is the spending caps.”I imagine we’re not the only Supervisory Union in Vermont where that’s the case.