NEWFANE — A municipal tax rate of $0.4427 is set for the town for fiscal year 2015, up over the current year's $0.4238 for homeowners, nonresidents, and businesses.
The education tax rate, set by the state, is $1.4787 for residents, $1.4815 for nonresidents and businesses.
The rates were announced at the top of two hours' worth of business that the Selectboard put in during their regular meeting on July 2.
At that meeting, the Selectboard also heard an update on Lynch Bridge, a request for official endorsement of a solar power company's marketing campaign, and an update on changes to the recycling law.
Officials also agreed on wage increases for town workers and heard an update on broadband connectivity here.
The new tax rate fits into a budget where proposed expenditures are $1,427,427 and anticipated revenue is $186,190. The amount to be raised, therefore, is $1,241,237.
Selectboard members said the town submitted to the state a grand list of assessed property values of $2,803,575 by the end of June. That amount is used to help establish the education tax rate.
Of the municipal rate, Board Chair Gary Katz said, “That's the amount the voters agreed to raise by taxes, so that's what it's got to be.”
$165K Lynch Bridge loan needed
With Lynch Bridge rebuilt - finally - following 2011's devastating Tropical Storm Irene, which washed the original bridge away, officials are wrapping up the final details, including financing.
According to Shannon Murray Meckle, the Selectboard's administrative assistant, paperwork is nearly complete for a $165,000 loan application “that will cover the rest of the cost of the bridge, plus the engineering and project management that Southern Vermont Engineering did.”
She said representatives of the board, and Road Foreman Todd Lawley, would need to meet with the builder for a final site visit “and then we can pay the last invoice.”
As Brattleboro Community Television broadcast the scene, Meckle added, “That should take care of the last of the Irene-related work to be done, then [Selectboard Member] Chris [Druke] and I can work on closeouts, and maybe we'll be done.”
The board awarded Vernon-based Renaud Bros. a $536,886 contract in 2013 to rebuild Lynch Bridge, which is eligible for federal disaster reimbursement.
Lynch Bridge's completion follows that of Hunter Brook Bridge, another Irene victim, which was unveiled in November 2013 after $424,153 was spent with Cold River Bridges of Walpole, N.H.
At the board's June 19 meeting, according to minutes posted at the town's website, Piet van Loon recommended top-dressing and seeding behind the guardrails at Lynch Bridge where there are wheel ruts, to discourage parking in that area and in the interest of aesthetics.
Selectboard seeks views on bulk-purchase solar request
The Selectboard are referring to the town's energy coordinator, Don Priem, a proposal they heard July 2 from an area solar power advocate who hopes to have their stamp of approval on a marketing campaign here.
Tad Montgomery, of Home Energy Advocates, says he is partnering with Real Goods Solar (RGS Energy) to bring low-cost solar electric and hot water systems to residents and businesses in Windham County.
Montgomery, a member of Brattleboro's energy committee, and an ecological engineer, told selectmen that “Solarizing” works through a bulk purchase arrangement that benefits homeowners and towns.
Through the project, when more than 50 kilowatts of solar energy are installed - roughly 10 households are needed at that level, Montgomery said - the price for each system falls lower.
It drops again at 100 KW and 150 KW, he said, and added that if a town has 250 KW installed during “the Solarize period,” then RGS Energy and Home Energy Advocates will donate a solar PV system to be installed on a public school or municipal building.
Solarize bills itself as a grassroots phenomenon to help homeowners and small businesses overcome the financial and logistical barriers to installing solar energy.
It started in Portland, Ore., in 2009, has spread to hundreds of towns across America, and is responsible for thousands of rooftop and backyard solar arrays, Montgomery said.
Putney launched a Solarize campaign from March 15 to June 30.
Montgomery said an endorsement from Newfane officials would be sufficient to start the ball rolling here, and that a team of volunteers would leverage that in a push to win over consumers.
Katz asked tentatively for written guarantees that any such endorsement would obligate neither the town nor its residents in any way, nor would it raise locals' taxes.
“I would actually go further than that and say the opposite, that this could be a revenue generator for the town because solar equipment [as owned by the solar developer] is property; property can be taxed,” Montgomery said.
“That's all factored into the equations for the homeowner, in terms of the costs and benefits. That's what I can put in writing, yes,” he added.
Acknowledging that unrelated solar projects have taken long elsewhere to get off the ground, he said residents who signed up for Solarize would see results in a matter of months. He also warned solar prices were due to rise, owing to pending trade difficulties with China and an increase in domestic support for alternative energies such as biomass.
The Selectboard agreed unanimously to refer the matter to Priem for his opinion and said they look forward to hearing from Montgomery again.
For more information, contact Montgomery at Home Energy Advocates in Brattleboro at 802-251-0502 or [email protected].
Another 10 years of recycling signed at town office
The Selectboard signed a 10-year certification on July 2 permitting the Windham Solid Waste Management District to continue collecting recycling adjacent to the town office.
The collection, according to WSWMD Executive Director Robert Spencer, saves town residents some $20,000 a year, as it diverts waste from residential trash.
There is no charge to apply for the recertification, which Spencer collected personally.
The WSWMD is a public entity formed by charter through the state of Vermont in 1988. It is composed of 19 towns which have joined together to cooperatively manage their solid waste in rural southeastern Vermont. The WSWMD manages the only publicly owned and operated Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in Vermont.
There is one representative and one alternate from each member town.
Spencer also said he would keep the board apprised of changes in the recycling law, which would take effect this time next year.
Town workers get pay boost
Selectboard Vice Chair Todd Lawley, also the town's road foreman, abstained from an otherwise unanimous vote that increased wages for many town employees heading into fiscal year 2015.
An increase of 25 cents per hour was set for road crew employees; $520 per year was added to the town's administrative assistant salary; 25 cents, 26 cents, and 25 cents an hour were boosted for the town's three listers; the zoning administrator gets another 25 cents an hour; and the treasurer and town clerk each will get paid an additional $520 this year.
FairPoint broadband expansion moves along
Correspondence from FairPoint Communications read into the record at the July 2 Selectboard meeting suggest that the telecommunications company is making inroads on its plan to cover more of the town.
The company said plans are complete or in the works to reach “all or portions of” Cushing Flats Road, Eddy Road, Forrest Lane, French Cabin Road, Newfane Hill Road, Vic Benjamin Road, and White Birch Lane.