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Welcome to the Thornton (NH) Taxpayers Group website.
A group of concerned citizens got together as a result of the March 20233 issue of the school board trying ram a $17 million project for additions to the school. We decided that our town needed a watchdog group to pay attention to the town’s finances and to make these issues quickly and easily available to the townspeople.
We set up this site because navigating the financial entities for the town is cumbersome and confusing. There are three main components that drive your property taxes:
- Town operations – roads, police, fire, etc
- Thornton Central School – on Route 175, grades K-8, there are about 190 students there as of late 2023
- Plymouth Regional High School – in Plymouth, this is where we educate grades 9-12
At the outset, we are focusing on the town operations and the Thornton Central School operations. Eventually we will include Plymouth Regional High School.
But, there is one more component to your property taxes and that is who your elected officials are. Other than road signs and maybe a Facebook profile, there is no central place where candidates can tell you about themselves. That’s why we’ll added a Candidates page prior to the March elections. Any candicate can submit a 500-word or less bio about themselves, their background and qualifications, and why they want to run.
The data here are mostly drawn from the Town of Thornton 2022 Annual Report. Note that the 2022 annual report was actually produced in the first quarter of 2023.
Important links
- Town website: www.townofthornton.org
- Calendar of all meetings for the town (not including the schools. Calendar: Public Meeting | Thornton NH (townofthornton.org)
- Thornton Central School website: Thornton Central School (pemibaker.org)
Click here to get a list of all town meetings
The town and the school district are considered separate entities. Click here for a list of town meetings, Board of Selectmen, Planning Board, etc.
Click here to get a list of all Thornton Central School meetings
The town and the school district are considered separate entities. The school board of the Thornton Central School normally meets on the fourth Monday of each month at the school at 5.30.
Click here to get a list of all Plymouth Regional High School meetings
The town and the school district are considered separate entities. The school board of the Plymouth Regional High School normally meets on the first Tuesday of each month at the school at 5.00.
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New property tax for 2024
Without getting competitive bids, the school board unilaterally approves $3.455 million project
TTG believes the school board was elected to drive the education system in Thornton in a manner consistent with the Town's values and the Town's ability to pay. Over the past year, they have behaved like they think the Town is an ATM and they can take money out at...
IMPORTANT – School Board meeting and Public Comment on up to $3.5 million energy project Monday Nov 27, 2023 at 5.30
This is an important meeting to voice your support or concerns for Siemens's proposal to upgrade the school. The agenda is HERE See our discussion page HERE. The school board says they can pass this WITHOUT a vote of the townspeople. The options are: Do nothing...
Have you applied for a property tax abatement?
For the past five years, the Town has used Avitar Associates to manage all property tax abatements. That contract is up soon and the Town has put out a bid for an asessment firm for the next five years. That RFP can be seen HERE. If you have positive or negative...
Thornton Central School plans to spend up to $3.5 million to modernize energy system
(In August 2023, the School Board authorized the Superintendent to allow a no-expense audit of the energy systems in the school. They allowed Siemens to perform the audit. Here is the presentation Siemens made to the board and community on October 23, 2023. Notes...
We welcome your comments
As a reply to this post, please give your comments and suggestions either for the information and structure of the website, but also on any relevant topic. (We reserve the right to delete rude, inappropriate or non-relevant posts.)
New property tax for 2024
Without getting competitive bids, the school board unilaterally approves $3.455 million project
TTG believes the school board was elected to drive the education system in Thornton in a manner consistent with the Town's values and the Town's ability to pay. Over the past year, they have behaved like they think the Town is an ATM and they can take money out at...
IMPORTANT – School Board meeting and Public Comment on up to $3.5 million energy project Monday Nov 27, 2023 at 5.30
This is an important meeting to voice your support or concerns for Siemens's proposal to upgrade the school. The agenda is HERE See our discussion page HERE. The school board says they can pass this WITHOUT a vote of the townspeople. The options are: Do nothing...
Have you applied for a property tax abatement?
For the past five years, the Town has used Avitar Associates to manage all property tax abatements. That contract is up soon and the Town has put out a bid for an asessment firm for the next five years. That RFP can be seen HERE. If you have positive or negative...
Thornton Central School plans to spend up to $3.5 million to modernize energy system
(In August 2023, the School Board authorized the Superintendent to allow a no-expense audit of the energy systems in the school. They allowed Siemens to perform the audit. Here is the presentation Siemens made to the board and community on October 23, 2023. Notes...
We welcome your comments
As a reply to this post, please give your comments and suggestions either for the information and structure of the website, but also on any relevant topic. (We reserve the right to delete rude, inappropriate or non-relevant posts.)
Please join our mailing list:
We won’t bombard you with emails, just important stuff that you will want to know about.
On November 28, 2023, the property tax rate for 2024 was announced. Here is a comparison to last year.
| 2024 | 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| County | $1.71 | $1.59 | +7.5% |
| Schools | $13.53 | $12.92 | +4.7% |
| Town Operations | $3.82 | $4.23 | -9.7% |
| State Education | $1.70 | $1.27 | +33.9% |
| $20.76 | $20.01 | +3.75% |
In a nutshell, here are the operating budgets for the three entities for 2023
Town operating budget
$4,237,039
2022 Annual Report, page 86
Thornton Central School Budget
$5,728,362
2022 Annual Report, page 141
Plymouth Regional High School Budget
$2,336,058
2022 Annual Report, page 103
Remember that the above are operating budgets, the expense side of the equation. Each entity also has revenue streams other than property taxes. For example, the town receives money from car registration fees and the like, and the schools get reimbursements from the state and federal governments. This next table shows the net amount each entity needs to collect via property taxes.
| Entity | Amount | Amount per thousand | Percent of total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Town operations | $1,915,410 | $4.10 | 20.5% |
| Thornton Central and Plymouth Regional schools | $5,866,560 | $12.92 | 64.6% |
| County operations | $722,438 | $1.59 | 7.9% |
| Contribution to state education fund | $566,910 | $1.27 | 6.3% |
| Total | $9,071,318 | $20.01 | 100% |
These data were from mid-November, 2022. The new rate will be published in mid-November, 2023.
The town reports are HERE. Remember that the reports are labeled for the previous year. For example, the 2023 report is for fiscal/calendar year 2022.
If you are interested in how the town assesses your property, see this document from 2019. This “Revaluation Manual” is updated every five years and is being updates in Q4, 2023
The town funds operations via various sources of income including taxes and fees but the bulk of them are raised via property taxes.
The calculation is simple. Just take the total dollars the town needs, for example in 2022 that was about $9.1 million and divide it by the town’s total taxable property. Here the info for the total taxable property Q4 of each year:
Q4, 2023 = $462 million
Q4, 2022 = $440 million
Q4, 2021 = $427 million
This information is contained in a document entitled MS1 and is filed with the state. As of November, 2023, see HERE. These data are included in the town’s annual report.
There is a page for each entity that provides more detail.
This website is brought to you by the Thornton Taxpayers Group. We welcome thoughts and suggestions for the site. Send suggestions to info@thorntontaxpayers.com
We welcome comments on this site and suggestions on improvement. Please contact us: