BRADFORD, Vt. — Voters will consider whether to approve a $21 million school budget for the Oxbow Unified Union School District on Monday, May 6. 

The budget marks a nearly 14% increase over last year’s $18.4 million operating budget for the district, which includes Newbury, Vt., and Bradford elementary schools, Oxbow High School and the River Bend Technical Career Center. 

The bulk of the budget bump is due to health insurance and salary increases, School Board Chairwoman Danielle Corti, of Newbury, said in an interview Tuesday. “We don’t have control over those costs.” 

The district is set to benefit from the state’s new pupil-weighting formula, which increases funding to schools with rural and low-income populations. But that formula does not offset other factors enough to reduce property tax rates this year.

“When we first looked at this budget in December, we were looking at a positive outcome in terms of taxes. And then the bottom fell out” when the impact of the Common Level of Appraisal, or CLA, was calculated, Corti said.

The CLA describes  the degree to which the town’s assessment matches a property’s fair market value.  A lower CLA means higher taxes, and Bradford and Newbury saw significant CLA drops. 

“That is the piece that is super frustrating,” Corti said. “If the state doesn’t adjust that, it will be a problem for a long time.”

For Bradford, education property tax rates will increase from $1.69 to $1.89 per $100 of property value. That rate would mean a tax bill of $3,786 for $200,000 in property value, which is an increase of $400 from last year. 

In Newbury, tax rates will increase from $1.50 to $1.67 per $100 of property value. That will mean a $3,342 tax bill on property valued at $200,000, an increase of $338 from last year. 

“It has been a frustrating budgeting process this year. It’s a complicated system in a good year, and this year has been even more dynamic,” Corti said.  

On Town Meeting Day in Vermont this year, nearly one-third of school budgets failed, and Rivendell voters last month rejected a $15.7 million budget. 

Oxbow voters will hear nominations and vote from the floor for two School Board seats, one representing Bradford and one Newbury. Both seats are three-year terms.

Oxbow’s annual meeting will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 6 at Oxbow High School in Bradford. A public information hearing will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. All decisions will be made by floor vote. 

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com or 603-727-3208.