The morning of Annual Town Meeting started sunny and cool. Voters with town reports in hand filed into their local town halls, school gymnasiums, and meeting houses.
Marlboro residents stepped over puddles and ice patches for their 9 a.m. meeting.
The $2,734,921 school budget passed on a unanimous voice vote. According to the meeting warning, the budget reflected education spending on $16,676 per equalized pupil. This amount was 3.7 percent higher than spending for the current year.
School Board members explained, however, that the projected tax rate would decrease a little to $1.66 compared to the current tax rate.
Chair Jen Carr said that the Legislature recently adjusted the spending threshold for Marlboro which had the knock-on effect of lowering the tax rate.
Questions about Act 46 abounded, as the town offers school choice.
School Board members told the audience that Marlboro Elementary School had formed a study committee, but the fledgling committee has nothing to report yet. Soon, however, the committee will mail a survey, and board members asked residents to read and respond to the questions carefully.
Residents' answers will form the basis of the committee's work and recommendations, said board members.
One audience member summed up many voters' confusion when he asked why the numbers in the school budget didn't add up.
“There's almost a piece of math missing,” an attendee commented.
Without a sense of irony or missing a beat, the School Board nodded, yes.
What followed was the school board's annual explanation of why the math behind the state's education formula works at the state level but turns into a rigamarole for local voters, who insist on expecting that 1 plus 1 equals 2.
Marijuana a hot topic in Dover
Approximately 20 minutes away in Dover, the town's state representative, Laura Sibilia, provided Annual Town Meeting attendees with an update of the issues she has been following in Montpelier.
Act 46, marijuana legalization, broadband access, increasing the governor's term from two to four years, and an independent-contractor classification topped the discussion.
She encouraged people to contact her with questions or concerns.
“[School] choice as you know it is not currently threatened,” Sibilia said.
Dover Police Chief Randall Johnson spoke against legalization of marijuana, predicting that if Vermont legalizes pot, taxes will increase.
It takes a law-enforcement officer longer to deal with someone on drugs than on alcohol, he added. If the law passes, Johnson added, he would propose that the town pass a local ordinance banning marijuana.
A debate followed about whether to disband the elected board of listers in favor of an appointed part-time assessor.
According to Selectboard Chair Randall Terk, the board of listers has had multiple vacancies for multiple terms. This meant the listers' duties were not being fully met.
No one wants to run because the job has become too complex and requires too much training for little compensation, commented multiple Selectboard members.
Instead, they told voters, the board wanted to appoint long-serving lister board chair Linda Sherman to the new part-time position. This would also guarantee her a salary and town benefits.
Some audience members questioned whether the move would save the town money. Some residents questioned if the move would shift power from the voters to the Selectboard. And some residents commented that the listers office had not fulfilled the duties that voters expected.
Speaking as a private citizen, Andrew MacLean, who also serves as town clerk, said he had felt uncomfortable with doing away with any elected position. But he added that recently, after speaking with colleagues in other towns, he had changed his view.
An appointed position still has a layer of insulation between the assessor and the Selectboard, he said. So the board could not as easily sway an appointed town official as a town employee.
Voters lined up to cast ballots on the question before the lunchtime break. They ultimately approved dissolving the board of listers and instituting an appointed assessor.
Quiet meetings in Wilmington, Whitingham
Wilmington held its Annual Town Meeting at the renovated Twin Valley Elementary School (formally Deerfield Valley Elementary School).
During the lunch break, Town Clerk and Selectboard member Susan Haughwout stopped to say that turnout seemed normal compared to previous years.
In the one contested Selectboard race, Vince Rice won a two-year seat over Jamie Brunn. On the School Board, Therese Lounsbury won through a write-in campaign.
Voters in both Wilmington and Whitingham approved the $10,192,681 school budget by Australian ballot.
According to the annual school meeting warning, the school budget represented $17,092 per equalized pupil. This amount is 1.3 percent lower than spending for the current year.
After some discussion, voters approved the addition of a sixth police officer for the Wilmington Police Department, Haughwout said.
Whitingham's Annual Town Meeting wound down by early afternoon with school-related business taking approximately 20 minutes.
Under other business, Steven Morse expressed his concern about agricultural forestry bills working through the legislature.
He has sent a letter listing his concerns to state reps. Ann Manwaring, D-Wilmington, and Sibilia.
Montpelier is creating laws that burden farmers with unnecessary paperwork, Morse said. This paperwork bogs down new farmers the most.
Dwight E. Williams pressed the Selectboard on the compensation that members received.
The proposed fiscal year 2017 budget includes board compensation of $2,000 per member. The proposed compensation for the chair is $2,300.
As the board considered cutting the budget of other departments, did it ever consider reducing its compensation? Williams asked.
Selectboard member Gregory S. Brown said the board felt comfortable that the amount that members received was commensurate with the amount of work they performed.