Woodbury - Where do your taxes go?

I find it remarkable that so many folks still don't understand the basics of Woodbury's Budget(s). Hopefully the attached images will help out some and perhaps open a few eyes.

Woodbury's budget is comprised of two components; the Educational portion (Region 14) and the Municipal portion (Town of Woodbury). While the Region 14 budget is voted on separately from the Town it is voted on in totality and comprising both the Town of Woodbury and the Town of Bethlehem. Long ago it was established that Woodbury's portion of the total Region 14 budget was to be set at roughly 76%.

Today we see a budget of $32+ million for Region 14 with Woodbury's portion set at over $22 million while Woodbury's municipal, though not yet settled, is in the $9.8 million dollar range. Roughly 70% of Woodbury taxpayer dollars go to Region 14 (see attached graph).

Additionally I have included a graph that depicts the breakdown of some individual components of the Region 14 budget; note I have calculated Woodbury's 76% portion and displayed only that portion ($22.4 million). Viewing the graph we see that of the $22,400,000.00 Woodbury taxpayers will pay to Region 14 that $18,100,000.00 (~81% of educational budget) goes directly to salaries and benefits while less than $800,000.00 (less than 4%) goes to instructional and non-instructional supplies & materials with $947,000.00 (~4.25%) going to debt service.

The budgets are available online to view and I urge everyone to do so. Learn where your tax dollars are actually going. If you look at your tax bills. For every $10,000.00 in taxes paid to Woodbury you will have paid over $5,600.00 directly to Region 14 employees and less than $250.00 for student supplies and materials.

Interestingly, it is also to be found on Region 14's budget that since 2003 enrollment is down nearly 500 students. This while the Region's budget has increased $4,700,000.00 since 2006.