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The Good News
This past year the Sherburne Education Foundation and Killington property owners completed another successful campaign to minimize the negative effect of Act 60. The statewide school property taxes provided basic funding for our school as well as other schools throughout Vermont. A combination of Killington taxpayer’s contributions and monies carried forward from prior campaigns were able to support our local educations costs above and beyond the state determined basic funding level, thereby avoiding the costly participation in the “shark pool”.
Act 60 Has Not Gone Away
The education funding law is fully implemented. Of the more than $5,900,000 mandated statewide school property tax monies collected from our town in 2002, over $5,100,000 was sent to the state for distribution to needy towns across Vermont.An additional payment of over $5,000,000 was avoided due to the contributions to the Sherburne Education Foundation. This year the Town of Killington won a court judgment against the state’s method of appraisal for the year 1997; however, the issue has been appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court by the State of Vermont. Whatever happens in the courts and the 2003 Legislature, the need to avoid the “shark pool” in 2003 remains, and so our efforts continue. Our Goals
Our fundamental goals remain unwavering:
• To solidly support continuing excellence in education for the children of our town.
• To seek tax relief for the property owners of the Town of Killington.
• To recognize that all children in Vermont deserve an adequate education, funded by an equitable tax law. What's Next
The upcoming fund raising year presents a new challenge. Because we have depleted our “carry over” funds and due to the state formula calculations, we anticipate that we will need 15% more money in order to stay off the “Shark Pool” this coming year. Therefore our goal is to increase participation by all taxpayers. We challenge each and every taxpayer to recognize the importance of these contributions and the mutual benefits to be realized.
2002 Campaign Results
Voluntary Contributions......$401,282
Prior Campaigns Carry Over......$55,576
Total Donated To School 2002......$456,857
2002 Town of Killington Taxes With Sherburne Education Foundation Fund Raising | Tax Rate | Billed | Municipal | .317 | $1,824,300 | State Wide School Property Tax | 1.052 | $5,985,864* | Local Share | .029 | $167,063 | TOTAL | $1.398 | $7,977,227 |
Without Sherburne Education Foundation Fund Raising | Tax Rate | Billed | Municipal | .317 | $1,824,300 | State Wide School Property Tax | 1.052 | $5,985,864* | Local Share | .969 | $5,515,058 | TOTAL | $2.338 | $13,325,222 |
Local Share Examples Property Assessed Valuation | Suggested Contribution .1% | Increase in taxes without S.E.F. $0.94 | Your Tax Savings | $100,000
$200,000 | $100
$200 | $940
$1,880 | $840
$1,680 |
*Of the $5,985,864 sent to the State of Vermont, $860,170 is returned to our town, ($5,566 per equalized number of Killington students K-12).
For further information and updates, contact:
Sherburne Education Foundation
P.O. Box 429 • Killington, Vt 05751
(802) 422-3243
S.E.F. Board of Directors
Lenore Bianchi • Anne Marie Blackman
June Buttner • M.B. Neisner
Charles Wise |
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(802) 422-3366
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