© 2025 New Hampshire Public Radio

Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
🔔NHPR MATCH HAPPENING NOW!🔔 Support essential local news and your impact will triple.

Dunbarton Taxpayers to See Unexpected Tax Relief

Wikimedia commons

The Dunbarton school district had an extra million dollars in the budget, and that means some extra money for taxpayers.

A judge ruled last week the school district couldn't hold an emergency meeting about the excess funds. With that ruling, the excess funds will now go toward reducing the tax rate, but only for one year.

That means someone with a home assessed at $300,000 would see a decrease of about $1,000 in their taxes.

Clem Madden is the vice chairman of the school board.

"The accumulation of these funds took everyone by surprise," he said.

An audit earlier this year found reporting errors when Dunbarton was part of SAU 19. The district is now part of SAU 67, and those earlier mistakes had left the district in the dark about how much it had left over.

Madden laughed when asked if he had plans for what he’d do with the extra money from the tax reduction.

“No, no we've got three kids so we'll save it for a rainy day," he said.

The exact rates will be finalized in a few months. After the next year, the tax rate will go up to what it’s normally been.

READ THE JUDGE's order issued Friday:

I help guide NHPR’s bilingual journalism and our climate/environment journalism in an effort to fill these reporting gaps in New Hampshire. I work with our journalists to tell stories that inform, celebrate and empower Latino/a/x community members in the state through our WhatsApp news service ¿Que Hay de Nuevo, New Hampshire? as well as NHPR’s digital platforms in Spanish and English. For our By Degrees climate coverage, I work with reporters and producers to tell stories that take audience members to the places and people grappling with and responding to climate change, while explaining the forces both driving and limiting New Hampshire’s efforts to respond to this crisis.
Related Content

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.