Dear Neighbors,
If you own a home in Jericho or Underhill, your new tax bill probably came as a shock. We have heard from many of you, and we understand what an increase like this means for a household budget. We went straight to the State to get answers, and this letter shares what we found.
The short version: Your bill went up for two main reasons. The recent reappraisal raised home values, and everyone expected tax rates to drop to balance that out. Rates did drop, but not as far as they should have, because the State changed a rule this year about how rates are set after a reappraisal.
We asked the Vermont Department of Taxes to run the numbers with us, and they did. For a typical Underhill home, that rule change caused about 40 percent of this year's increase. For a typical Jericho home, about 10 percent. That money went to the State Education Fund, not to your schools.
Because this came from a change in state law, the fix has to come from the Statehouse. We have written to the legislators who represent our towns and asked them to make it right, for this year and for the towns that reappraise after us.
The full letter below walks through how education taxes work and shows the numbers, step by step. If it raises questions, call us at (802) 434-2128 or stop by the district office. We will keep working on this, and we will keep you posted.
Tara Arneson, School Board Chair, and John Muldoon, MMUUSD Superintendent