After being rejected by voters in March, the Hanover and Dresden school budgets were approved on Tuesday, according to Hanover Town Manager Julia Griffin. The revised budgets include lower tax increases for residents than the original proposals.
Fifty-four percent voted in favor for the Hanover budget and 56 percent of voters supported the Dresden budget, she said.
The budget that passed on Tuesday will increase property taxes in Hanover by 2.8 percent and taxes in Norwich by 6.54 percent, according to Steve Woods, a member of the Hanover School Board.
For a property valued at $1,000, for example, the new plan will increase property taxes by 32 cents, from $10.70 to $11.02. The original plan, however, would have increased taxes by 52 cents, according to Griffin.
To reduce costs and lower the increase in taxes, the approved budget includes the termination of a "late bus" for students, the elimination of several education assistants and adjustments to electives and language courses at the schools in the Hanover and Dresden systems.
The higher taxes this year were needed in part because of increased enrollment at Hanover's elementary school and high school, Woods said. Enrollment in kindergarten through sixth-grade increased by 11.4 percent, and Hanover High School's population increased by 8.7 percent.
Pay raises for teachers also inspired debate over the budget, according to Woods. The approved changes include a 3 percent increase in the base salaries of all teachers and an additional increase for teachers who have worked for over seven years in the Hanover or Dresden school systems, Woods said.
"Some voters wanted the teachers to give back their pay increase because of the economic conditions," he said.
Griffin said she suspected that the budget did not pass in March because of voter apathy.
"We typically have fairly low voter turnout and the folks who do turn out are those who are upset about an issue," she said. "The results of the vote got a lot of people's attention and people were shocked that the budget did not pass."
Some voters may have opposed the new budget plan because they disliked the increased reductions to the original budget, according to Griffin.
"Some people were happy with the first budget and wished that they had voted in March," she said.
Alisa Brisson, a supporter of the budget, said she hoped that Dartmouth students with ties to Hanover, like those from the town or with family in the area, would vote.
"I did not want to make it seem like I wanted every Dartmouth student to come vote," she said. "The point is that people who care and have a vested interest be made aware that there is an election."
Several Dartmouth students who graduated from Hanover High told The Dartmouth they were not planning on voting.
"I would like to vote but I don't think I'm going to have time," Ryan Collins '13 said.
Collins added that he wished that he had voted in the last election and if he had voted he would have supported the budget. He said he was informed of the election by his friends who still attend Hanover High, nor by efforts made by those who supported the budget.
Emily Ulrich '11 said she was aware of the election but did not feel that she understood the issue well enough to make an informed decision.
"I'm not the most qualified person to voice my opinion," she said. "I think it's more important for people who understand the issue to be involved."
