CAN THEY INCREASE YOUR TAXES MORE THAN WHAT THEY TELL YOU?

Yes they can! Remember that you are voting on how much money the board can spend, not the tax increase.  If the “yes” votes win, the board has a free hand to increase your taxes to whatever it takes to collect that money.  In 2001 they told the voters before the vote that the tax increase would be 4.7%. The people were thus misled to vote for the budget, and as soon as the board got the budget passed, they cranked up the taxes to 8.1%.  If the board gets the budget passed this year, they are not restricted to keep the tax increase to 24.9%. They can crank it up much higher and if the budget passes, you have no control.