By Ryan O’Connor
Staff Writer

Due to unforeseeable circumstances within the school district, Dunbarton’s tax rate has gone up slightly more than anticipated.

The Department of Revenue Administration ­ the agency that sets the tax rate for each town and city in New Hampshire ­ recently confirmed the rate, which has risen from $15.36 per $1,000 assessed property value in 2005 to $16.46 in 2006. Property taxes on a $300,000 home will now cost $4,938.

The jump is primarily based on a school increase of $1.04. Last year, residents paid $2.39 for state school taxes and $9.05 for local schools, but taxes have risen to $2.40 for the state and $10.08 locally.

County taxes have remained steady at $2.03, but the town rate has gone up slightly from $1.89 to $1.95 this year.

According to school board Vice Chairman Betty Ann Noyes, the main reason for a $318,072 school budget increase stems from an increase in tuition and number of students attending Mountain View Middle School and Goffstown High School.

“A lot of people may get upset because they may say we should know, but we put a budget together now to get approved in March. But, school doesn’t start until September, so it’s impossible,” she said. “Because of the fact that we had increases in our student population at middle and high school, we had to find that money in our budget, which reduced the amount of money we would have perhaps been able to return to the town to apply against the tax rate.”

Noyes said there are 11 more students entering the middle school than those who moved up to the high school. In addition, four more students brought the total to 15 extra students, cost ing the district $144,095 at the middle school alone. The district currently has 71 student in grades 7 and 8.

In addition, because of an increase of 12 students at the high school, the district incurred a tuition increase of $165,206 over the prior year.

Tuition for each student also went up from $7,883 during the last school year to $8,662 this year, a $779 increase per student.

Noyes said most of the district’s new students are coming into the upper grades rather than the elementary grades, as had been the trend in the past, and a total tuition increase of more than $300,000 represents 63.9 percent of regular education costs.

So what about the possibility of a Dunbarton middle or high school?

“We have talked about it and talked about it and talked about it, but right now it looks like it would be more costly,” said Noyes. “We have also talked about joining with New Boston, because to do it alone, the cost would be fabulous for the number of children we have. Perhaps in future years something will come down the line, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Other increases, which Noyes said were out of the district’s control, include an additional $18,000 in electricity costs, which jumped from $27,000 to $45,000, and a $28,500 heat and fuel oil increase.

Diesel fuel for the district’s six buses represents an increase of $9,750 and health insurance increased $38,000, a 27.9 percent jump over last year’s rate.

“All of these things the board can do nothing about. They’re all requirements, especially when it comes to tutoring the number of students you’re supporting, and fuel and oil,” Noyes said. “The board was not happy about it, but we tried our very best.”

Other increases include $42,000 for teacher salaries and $45,000 for support staff, which includes teaching assistants, secretarial help, custodial or maintenance service, and cafeteria workers ­ 17 total employees.

“When people don’t understand, they sometimes get very upset and I don’t blame them because a 7.2 percent increase is a large percent,” Noyes said. “It didn’t leave any of us on the board very happy, but when we really looked at it there was nothing we could do. I think most people understand what our situation was and that there wasn’t much we could about it.”