The Peterborough Select Board has voted to propose a property tax rate of $22.35 per $1000 of property value to the state Department of Revenue Administration for the town’s December tax bills.

Town Administrator Nicole MacStay noted that the rate is more than $10 per thousand less than last year.

The lower rate is a result of what MacStay called a “tremendous jump” in the overall evaluation of property in town.

“Our total valuation is now $1,306,121,918, which is up by $300 million from previous years,” MacStay said at the Tuesday night Select Board meeting.

MacStay recommended the town not use a portion of the unexpended fund balance to lower the tax rate this year, as the maximum permitted amount of $1 million would not have a significant impact on taxes.

“If we look at what it would actually mean to use the fund balance, even if we used the entire amount allowed, which is one million, it would only bring the tax rate down to $21.50 per property as opposed to $22.35,” MacStay said.

MacStay also noted that the town is planning to spend around $200,000 from the fund balance to pay an unanticipated health insurance premium if the state gives permission for the town to do so.

“We aways have to keep enough of the fund balance to be able to pay unexpected expenses like this health insurance bill,” she said.

Town Treasurer Mandy Sliver and Lilli Gilligan, director of finance for the town, agreed that the town would be better off not drawing money from the fund balance for this tax assessment.

The Select Board voted unanimously to propose a tax rate of $22.35 to the DRA.

For more information on Peterborough tax assessing go to: peterboroughnh.gov/departments/assessing/index.php

Health insurance bill takes town by surprise

Peterborough will have to pay an unexpected $223,969 in health insurance premiums after the town’s health insurance provider, SchoolCare, assessed the town for an additional month and a half of premiums this fall.

“We are over a barrel here,” said Select Board Chair Tyler Ward. “This is something we just have to pay.”

At a public hearing Tuesday night, Select Board members discussed the pros and cons of using the town’s fund balance to pay the bill.

SchoolCare members across the state were hit with the same unexpected bill for an additional month and a half of premiums. Some large school districts, such as Concord, received unexpected bills in the millions.

SchoolCare is a nonprofit organization created in 1995 by a partnership of associations representing public entity management and labor groups in the state. The organization’s members include school districts and municipalities.

“Apparently, just 1.6% of SchoolCare’s membership is responsible for this overage,” MacStay said. “They just had some extraordinary health needs that had to be covered for their members, and their actuary said, ‘You are going to run out of money.'”

MacStay said that so far, 76% of the districts and municipalities who received the extra assessment from School Care have not paid it.

“Most towns will be using fund balance to pay this bill,” MacStay said. “If we do not use the fund balance, it would have to come out of our operating budget, and we have some ideas of where that could come from, but that would only be about $30,000.”

MacStay said if the full $229,000 had to come out of the town’s operating budget, the impact would be significant.

“If this had to come out of the operating budget, we would have to be looking at cutting things like road maintenance,” she said.

She proposed the town ask the state Department of Revenue’s permission to overexpend on its approved budget for FY2026 and use a portion of the town’s fund balance to cover most of the bill.

“It makes much more sense to ask in advance to overspend the budget so we don’t see negative impacts on our other programs,” MacStay said. “If we receive permission, we would be able to tap into the town’s fund balance to pay this bill. We always need to leave a balance to fund emergency situations like this.”

MacStay said that while SchoolCare has offered other options for payment, using the fund balance makes the most sense and would cost the least in the long run.

The board voted unanimously to request permission from the state to use the fund balance to pay the majority of the SchoolCare bill.