Janet Casey (left), chair of the supervisors of the checklist, Susan Bracy and Peter Weeks, both supervisors of the checklist, look over the checklist as residents arrive for the Dunbarton school meeting at the elementary school on Saturday afternoon.
Janet Casey (left), chair of the supervisors of the checklist, Susan Bracy and Peter Weeks, both supervisors of the checklist, look over the checklist as residents arrive for the Dunbarton school meeting at the elementary school on Saturday afternoon. Credit: GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor staff

Dunbarton residents asked no questions of the town’s school board Saturday afternoon.

But the nearly 100 people attending the annual school district meeting did pass an $8,012,345 budget – one notably larger than the previous year.

From one year to the next, the school’s budget rose 6.24% overall, a jump of $471,122 from the year before. That was due to two major changes: teacher salaries and transportation costs, explained Clem Madden, vice chairman of the board.

Still, a flood of new revenue and a state-ordered reduction in state property taxes kept the local tax increase slightly less than that. Property taxes for Dunbarton residents will rise 86 cents per $1,000 of property valuation as a result of the school budget, a 4.4% increase.

The budget grew by a few factors, Madden explained. There was the 3% annual step increases for teacher pay. There was a teacher retirement, which brought with it a retirement stipend – in addition to the salary for the new teacher replacing her. And the school is hiring a new full-time position: a math specialist to accompany the reading specialist and assist with “pull out services,” Madden explained.

Health insurance also rose by $71,560, due to premium increases. So did the Bow High School’s tuition rate, which Dunbarton taxpayers must pay for high school-aged kids.

A number of security and maintainence upgrades drove up the facilities costs to $34,294 – including $17,000 to repaint the community center and gym. And bus transportation costs rose by $26,707.

But the town was assisted by a influx of funds from the Legislature, which last year approved $130 million in additional state aid across New Hampshire. That aid was targeted at schools with high numbers of students on free-and-reduced lunch plans as well as schools in towns whose property values fall below a certain “equalized” valuation when compared to other towns.

Dunbarton, whose property valuation is $816,146 per student – meaning it is more “property poor” than other towns – qualified for $209,297 in state aid as result, which helped reduce its tax impact, according to school board member Jeff Trexler.

The state also reduced the town’s statewide educational property tax (SWEPT) obligation by $31,295, Trexler said.