The estimated increase to the Concord school tax rate next year was recently reported as 31 cents (Monitor front page, Feb. 1). This is true if you are reporting the total of the state education tax and the local education tax, a blended amount.
The local school increase, according to the working budget laid out at the school board meeting on Wednesday night, is 39 cents. The good-news lower number comes from an 8-cent decrease connected with the state tax. Combine the two for 31 cents, but the local board can not and should not imply that they get credit for that decrease. It is a mandated figure. The local number is 39 cents per $1,000 and the newspaper article did not clarify those important details and differences. Maybe the reporter was given poor information as board members appear to be not totally clear on those important details.
Still, the proper amount under their jurisdiction and control is a marked difference from the last five years when the increases per $1,000 of one’s assessed valuation were 64 cents, 46 cents, 55 cents, 55 cents, and 54 cents, respectively. It must have caught their attention when it was pointed out that this current year’s tax bill reflected an overall 57 cents per thousand increase and 54 of those cents came from the Concord school budget. Readers who found that data in your paper should be happy with the turnabout. It was, in my opinion, long overdue.
ELIZABETH HOADLEY
Concord