PLYMOUTH, Vt. – At the Jan. 13 meeting, the Plymouth Selectboard discussed and approved the town budget of $1,592,689 to be raised by taxes to pay the estimated expenses of $1,999,739, to be presented on the Annual Report, and to be voted on at Town Meeting. Chair Jay Kullman also reported that he and treasurer Cherry Nicoll were able to reduce taxes by $12,000. Kullman added that there was a loss of $100,000 to the general fund budget, “which is pretty remarkable,” as those expenses were due to the flooding.
There were a few citizen comments among the room. Carol Goodwin was concerned with The Vermont Journal’s reduced coverage of Plymouth’s meetings. Board member Keith Cappellini noted the physical size of the paper had decreased, and assumed word count was reduced as well. Though there is limited print space and availability to cover each meeting, The Vermont Journal does not intend to discontinue coverage of Plymouth.
Bruce Pauley expressed his concerns with property taxes, and the “ridiculousness” of how the state sets the education tax rate. He feels that “the schools tell us how much money they want,” and the taxpayers are “forced to vote on it.” He continued that “our system is not working, it’s definitely broken, and it’s not producing results…Our students are middle of the range as far as education…The amount of money spent and the results that we’re getting, it’s extremely disappointing.”
Pauley pressed that the town should take a stand on the increases in education property tax. Board member Rick Kaminski explained that the school district would have to allow Plymouth to opt out of the district, and there’s no incentive for them to allow that. He suggested offering solutions to better the education, or ways that may lower the tax rate.
The board then discussed the upcoming reappraisal, scheduled for fall of 2026, which is slated as far out as the town could postpone it. This reassessment of properties would impact the 2027 property taxes. Kullman noted that Plymouth is located between two ski resorts, and “property values have risen disproportionately on the spine of Route 100,” due in part to the continuation of homes selling and driving prices up. He expressed that people are leaving the area because of taxes, and “the state doesn’t care a bit about that.”
The reappraisal is required by the state when the coefficient of dispersion falls below a certain level. The common level of appraisal (CLA), a factor that adjusts the education property tax rates and reassesses property values to the current fair market value, is brought back to 100%. The Town of Plymouth’s CLA is at 48%, meaning that most property values would double in order to bring the CLA back up to 100%.
Cappellini provided that a house with a value of approximately $200,000 would most likely increase to a fair market value of $400,000. He expressed that, even if the tax rate were to decrease, each property is taxed on an increased value, and therefore taxes would not necessarily go down.
Kaminski then reported that the bids for the energy conservation project for the town hall renovation were over budget. He said that VMS Construction is overworked and understaffed, and though he is still going to use them, he is going to renegotiate the bid.
Kaminski said he is doing a good deal of leg work himself to help get the heat pumps in the entire building and radiant heat in the highway department. He explained that he is checking with individual vendors, pricing out materials himself, rebidding project work, and is also looking into other grant income. He reported there is some funding left over from Phase 1, along with the $500,000 grant. He confirmed the budget would not exceed $709,000, stating he was not going to request more money from the taxpayers.
The next Plymouth Selectboard meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 3, at 6 p.m.