Voters throughout the county will assemble on Town Meeting Day on Tuesday, March 5, unless otherwise specified.
For links to the warnings for all the Town Meetings listed here, and other Town Meeting-related resources for voters, visit atm2012.commonsnews.org.
Athens
Voters will meet at the Athens Elementary School at 10 a.m.
• Elections. After nominating a moderator and accepting the town report, townspeople will be asked to elect a road commissioner and town school district officers.
• Taxes. Voters will be asked to authorize the town to borrow money against taxes to defray expenses, to set the date of collection of taxes as Sept. 10, 2013, and to publish a list of delinquent taxpayers in the town report.
• Budget. In addition to routine budget matters, voters will consider whether to add $10,000 to the capital reserve fund for improvements to the town office.
• Schools. Voters both here and in Grafton will consider a $1.46 million budget for the K-6 Athens and Grafton Joint Contract School District, which includes $500 for each school director. Athens voters will consider $793,729 for the education of K-8 students, which includes $750 compensation for the town treasurer.
• Social services. Voters will consider a number of articles totaling $6,136 toward 10 social services.
Brattleboro
• Elections. Town and School District elections will take place at the Brattleboro Union High School Gymnasium on Fairground Road from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. by Australian ballot for: moderator, lister, Selectboard members, constables, trustee of public funds, school directors, Brattleboro Union High School directors, and Town Meeting members.
Representative Town Meeting takes place Saturday, March 23.
If you are unsure if your name is listed as a registered voter in Brattleboro or for more information about voter registration and early voting, contact Town Clerk Annette Cappy at 802-251-8157.
The town clerk's office is open 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. On the Saturday prior to an election, the office is open from 9 a.m. to noon for early voting.
Early ballots are available in the Town Clerk's office 45 days before a state or national election, and 20 days before a local election. Anyone wishing to vote early may apply for an early ballot until 5 p.m. on Monday, March 4.
Brookline
Voters will meet in the Multipurpose Room of the Brookline Elementary School at 10 a.m.
• Elections. After nominating a town moderator, voters will elect town officers, including town clerk, town treasurer, collector of delinquent taxes.
• Taxes. Voters will be asked to approve $202,087 to be raised by taxation, then to decide what dates to collect town taxes.
• Social services. Voters will be asked to approve $5,981 to support 20 nonprofit organizations that serve the town.
• Deficit. One article asks if the town shall “raise and appropriate the sum of $16,849.74 in order to retire and refund the fiscal year 2013 budget deficit in the general fund.”
According to Treasurer Somara Zwick, this article is a consequence of fiscal year 2011 ending with a deficit.
“The fundamental cause of this deficit was a significant accumulated property tax delinquency for that year, plus two prior years that finally caught up with the general fund balance, creating a net deficit in the amount warned,” Zwick said. “The primary cause is the payment of the education taxes, which cannot be deferred even if we have delinquent taxes owed to our town.”
Zwick explained that, per Vermont statutes, a town can warn the specific deficit amount to refund the deficit, as it has done for this year's Annual Town Meeting.
This other option for the town would have been a 5-percent surcharge on taxes collected in the next fiscal year.
“In this case the amount warned is significantly smaller, about 50 percent less; thus, the decision to warn in Article 10 was made by the Selectboard after consideration of the best action for the town,” Zwick said.
She added, “Happily, our current delinquent tax collector is now vigorously pursuing the unpaid amounts, so this matter should be a thing of the past.”
Dover
Annual Town Meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Dover Town Hall. Voting booths will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Budget. Voters will decide on a town budget, currently set at $3.25 million for operational, highway fund, and law enforcement expenses.
• Capital campaigns. Voters will decide on adding money to several highway funds separate from the regular operating expenses: $400,000 for the Capital Paving Fund, $200,000 for the Capital Equipment Fund, and $100,000 for the Capital Building Improvement Fund.
• Elections. Voters will elect two auditors, a first and second constable, grand juror, library trustee, lister, town moderator, school moderator, two Selectboard members, and a town agent, town clerk, town treasurer, and trustee of public funds.
• Voters should know: “this will be a pretty straightforward meeting,” Town Clerk Andy McLean said. “The only hot topic is the one contested race for selectman, where Dover resident William Buzzwell is running as an incumbent against resident Joseph Mahon.”
Dummerston
Meeting begins 10 a.m. at the Dummerston School. Voting booths will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Budget: Voters will decide on the town budget, proposed at $209,401 for the town's capital fund and highway department fund. Additionally, voters will decide on the Dummerston library's $2,000 budget.
• Fog lines: Voters will decide whether to have a $3,000 budget set aside for the painting of white fog lines on the side of roads.
“It's a safety factor, and in the spring and fall when the fog rolls in, it can be very tough to see the sides of the road,” Town Clerk Pam McFadden said. “There are quite a few residents who would like to see the fog lines put on the road every year.”
• Election: Voters will elect a moderator, town clerk, town treasurer, two Selectboard members, a lister, two auditors, a town agent, a town grand juror, a trustee of cemetery funds and a library trustee.
McFadden said the only contested position is for a Selectboard member, where Dummerston resident Joe Cook is running against Steve Casabona.
Grafton
Annual Town Meeting will take place at the Town/School District Offices beginning at 10 a.m. Polls by Australian ballot will remain open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Commercial wind. The potentially most contentious part of the Town Meeting warning are two articles asking residents to weigh in on a controversial industrial wind project. Selectboard Chair Alan Sands said, “The Select Board would like to hear from all voters on these articles.”
Voters will consider whether to instruct the board to “continue conversations with Meadowsend Timber and [its] developer, Atlantic Wind (Iberdrola), for the purpose of collecting information to share with the voters of Grafton.”
As a condition of the article, once data from a meteorological test tower has been collected and “a potential effect on Grafton has been reviewed,” voters will weigh in on the final project with a non-binding vote, whose outcome will be sent to the Public Service Board, the state quasi-judicial board that will ultimately consider a Certificate of Public Good for the project.
The second wind-related article asks voters' opinions about commercial wind energy production facilities and/or regulation of same within the town.
• Budget. Line-item budget requests include separate articles to raise $139,000 for the capital budget, $478,758 for the maintenance of highways and bridges, $208,318 for the Select Board's Budget, $9,000 for ambulance service, and $23,000 toward operating expenses for the Firemen's Association, which has been level funded for several years. The Grafton Rescue Squad is asking for $8,000 in operating expenses.
• Social services. The “humanitarians' article” will ask voters to approve $8,141, and another vote will determine whether $1,000 will go to Grafton Cares.
• Schools. Grafton and Athens voters will be asked to approve the Athens/Grafton Joint Contract School District budget (K-6) of $1.46 million, which includes $500 compensation for each school director.
Voters will be asked to approve $1.047 million for the education of its students. The budget includes $750 for the town treasurer.
• Tax-exempt status. Voters will be asked to grant tax- exempt status to the Grafton Nature Museum and Grafton Firefighters Association.
• Delinquent taxes. Voters will consider whether to levy a 1-percent-per-month interest charge on all delinquent taxes on real and personal property, as provided for by state law.
Guilford
Annual Town Meeting begins at the Guilford Central School gymnasium at 10 a.m. Voting booths will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Central School. As part of the town budget, voters will decide whether to remove the seventh and eighth grades of the Guilford Central School, and instead send students to the Brattleboro Area Middle School.
Town Clerk Penny Marine predicted that the school issue would be the highlight of the meeting. “People keep on flip-flopping on which side of the debate they're on,” she said.
• Budget. Voters will agree on a town budget, proposed at $1.5 million for highway and general expenses, and an additional $256,731 for community services, including the fire department, library, and $24,230 for 17 nearby humanitarian organizations.
• Elections: Voters will elect a new grand juror, two library trustees, two trustees of the Warden Wilder Fund, and a cemetery commissioner.
Halifax
Voters will meet at 10 a.m. at Halifax Elementary School.
• Five-member Selectboard. Voters will discuss changing the composition of the Selectboard from three to five members.
According to Town Clerk Patricia Dow, the town seeks the change because of “difficulty being in the same place as each other without the fear of ex parte communication” as prohibited by state open-meeting laws.
• Budget. Voters will consider a $1.44 million budget, of which $879,743 would be raised by taxes and $563,000 from other revenues.
The treasurer's office is seeking voter approval for $13,000 plus $4,000 for expenses, as well as $3,000 for the Whitingham Free Public Library “in recognition of services provided to the residents of Halifax.”
For the school district meeting, voters will be asked to approve $1.542 million for the next school year.
• Constable expenses. Voters will be asked to approve $10,000 for a certified first and/or second constable, or $2,000 for a non-certified officer.
• Social services. Voters will consider articles totaling $13,300 for 16 nonprofit organizations.
• Ambulance. Voters will consider $20,500 for emergency medical services and ambulance services.
• Town seal. Voters will be asked to approve a new town seal to be used on stationery, vehicles, a flag, or other items.
• Elections. All races are uncontested.
Jamaica
Meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Jamaica Town Hall.
• Budget: Voters will determine and decide on a town operating budget for the upcoming year. The proposed budget will be announced on the Town Meeting floor.
• Flood reserve fund: Voters will decide whether the revenue surplus of $36,570 should be transferred to the Flood Reserve Fund.
• Elimination of auditor position. Voters will decide whether the town auditor position should be eliminated and replaced by a professional auditing firm.
Town Clerk Pat Meulman predicted the article would pass. “I'm assuming that the town will go along with that; it seems to make the most sense,” she said.
• Elections: Voters will elect individuals to three Selectboard spots, a town lister, two constables, a town grand juror, a town agent, a trustee of public funds, an agent to deed lands, and two library trustees.
Londonderry
Voters will meet at the Town Hall at 10 a.m.
• Fiscal year change. Voters will be asked to consider changing the fiscal year to start July 1 and end June 30. Attached to this change is a vote for an increase in taxes of $100,000 per year to build a fund to cover expenses regarding to the fiscal year change. If approved, the change would happen by 2019.
• Dissolving funds. Voters will determine whether to dissolve the Windmill Legal Fund and return its $77,525.09 to the General Fund.
Voters will determine whether to dissolve the Prouty Land Engineering Fund and use the $18,041.46 in the fund to launch a general planning and engineering fund to service town projects.
• Fire departments. Voters will consider whether to raise $40,000 to be split between Phoenix Fire Company #6 Inc. and Champion Fire Company #5 Inc. Voters will also determine whether to raise funds for the Londonderry Volunteer Fire Squad.
• Social services and other expenses. Voters will approve $30,365 for 20 nonprofit organizations. Voters will also determine whether $1,000 will be disbursed to the Londonderry Conservatory Fund and $500 to the Londonderry Memorial Park.
Voters will determine whether to allocate $2,000 to Greater Northshire Access Television, a nonprofit public access television station.
Marlboro
Meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Marlboro Town House. Voting booths will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. also at the Town Offices.
• Budget. Voters will decide on a town budget, currently proposed at $563,080 for the general fund, highway department, and rescue services, including the volunteer fire department and Rescue Inc.
• Collins Road Bridge Repair: Voters will decide whether $34,650 should be set aside for replacing timber on a Collins Road bridge that was damaged during Tropical Storm Irene.
“All the work has been done, but that's one thing that stands out from the usual business,” Town Clerk Forrest Holzapfel said.
• Social services. Voters will decide on a proposed budget of $9,929 for community services, including the Moover bus service, adult education, senior services, and youth services, among others.
• Elections. Voters will elect one Select Board member, as well as town clerk, town treasurer, trustee of public funds, collector of delinquent taxes, lister, auditor, constable, grand juror, and town agent.
• Voters should know: “The meeting will be pretty cut and dried this year,” Holzapfel said “Other than the article on the bridge repairs, things will be pretty straightforward.”
Newfane
Voters will convene at the Williamsville Hall at 9 a.m. Voting by Australian ballot will take place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Elections. Voters will decide one-year terms for constable, collector of delinquent taxes, moderator, two Selectboard members, town agent, town clerk, and town treasurer, as well as three-year terms for one lister and one Selectboard member.
• Salaries. Voters will approve salaries for: town clerk, $34,608; town treasurer, $34,608; listers, $13.91 per hour; and all other elected or appointed officers, $8.46 per hour, with a mileage reimbursement of 55 cents per mile.
• Social services. Voters will be asked to fund $4,125 for the Visiting Nurse Association of Vermont and New Hampshire, $2,675 for Valley Cares, Inc., $2,500 for Grace Cottage Hospital, $500 for Red Cross, and $1,150 for Senior Solutions.
• SeVEDS. Voters will be asked to raise and appropriate $5,100 for Southern Vermont Economic Development Strategies.
• Budget. Voters will be asked to approve a $1.2 million budget for town expenses.
Putney
Voters will convene at the Putney Central School at 10 a.m. Polls will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Elections. Town and school district officers will be elected by Australian ballot. Voters will elect trustees of the Putney Public Library on the floor.
• Lighting efficiency. Voters of the Putney Town School District will decide whether the School Board may borrow up to $47,500 for the Putney Central School Lighting Efficiency Project from the Green Mountain Power Evergreen Fund. The loan would be financed over no more than five years.
The fund allows school districts to borrow money at no interest over as much as five years for energy-efficiency projects.
The savings is projected at $5,800 annually. The lighting efficiency measures have a life expectancy of at least 15 years.
• School repairs. The School Board seeks permission from voters to spend $17,500 from the Capital Improvement Fund to replace the horizontal “fascia board,” which caps the end of rafters outside of the building and may be used to hold the rain gutter and the soffit, the finished surface below the fascia and rafters.
• Money from reserves. Voters will be asked to appropriate $33,926 from the Education Reserve Fund and $122,957 from undesignated reserves to help reduce the tax rate and defray FY2014 expenses.
• Tax exemptions. Voters will consider whether to exempt the Putney Community Center and the Putney Historical Society from municipal and educational taxation for five years.
• Budget. Voters will be asked to approve the 2013-2014 Sewer Fund budget ($197,718, a 23-percent decrease from the current year's budget).
• Capital plan. Voters will be asked to approve the 2013-2014 Capital Plan, as presented in the 2012 Town Report. The plan includes $265,177 in revolving debt for highway and fire equipment and capital expenses for the fire station and the Town Hall. The plan calls for $45,000 to replace a Ford pickup truck in the highway department fleet.
Voters will be asked to authorize the Selectboard to borrow an amount not to exceed $100,000 to purchase a replacement for a sidewalk tractor. The debt would be repaid within five years.
• Full-time sheriff's deputy. Town Manager Cynthia Stoddard said an article asking voters to approve $40,000 to support a full-time Windham County Sheriff Deputy assigned to Putney “is in addition to $20,000 already budgeted.”
She said continued discussions with Westminster as to whether the two towns will share one full-time and one part-time sheriff would also depend on how the vote goes on Westminster's ballot.
If Westminster voters decline to approve the plan and voters in town approve the $60,000, Putney will go ahead and hire a full-time 40-hour-a-week sheriff from the combined funds.
If voters in both towns approve the proposal, representatives from both towns would “likely sit down and figure out how that would work,” said Stoddard, who described the collaboration as “a work in progress.”
• Tar Sands resolution. Stoddard said that resident Emily Peyton submitted a petition signed by 89 residents asking the town to vote on a resolution on tar sands oil.
The article asks, “Shall the voters of the Town of Putney advise the Selectboard to enact the following resolution to protect citizen health and safety, water bodies and other natural resources, in relation to tar sands oil transport through Vermont?”
The resolution would require all vendors doing business in Putney to provide a list of refinery sources of origin so the town can avoid purchase of any tar sands oil from all local vendors.
Among other measures, the article also calls for Vermont and all northeastern states to support similar policies as well as a Clean Fuels Standard to keep tar sands oil out of the region.
Rockingham
Town Meeting begins Monday, March 4, at 7 p.m., at the Bellows Falls Opera House.
Elections take place Tuesday, March 5, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Masonic Temple
• Budget. Voters will decide whether to approve $5.024 million to pay for town debt, highway repair, and other expenses, with $3.73 million being raised from taxes.
Voters will decide if $364,270 will be raised for the operating expenses of the Rockingham Free Public Library, with $320,806 being raised from taxes.
• Tax rate. Voters will be asked to consider a 2-cent increase in the property tax rate to fund a reported decifit for FY 2012.
• SeVEDS. Voters will decide whether to spend $15,000 to support the Southeastern Vermont Economic Development Strategy (SeVEDS).
• Social services. Voters will decide if $76,828 will be raised for 12 nonprofit organizations.
• Schools. Voters will decide a $10.4 million budget for district schools. Voters will also decide whether the school board should spend $155,059.76 from the 2012 fiscal year to offset the unbudgeted expenses in the current fiscal year.
Stratton
The Annual Town Meeting begins at 10 a.m. at the Town Hall.
• Fire department. Voters will decide whether to approve $49,050 for the Stratton Mountain Volunteer Fire Company operating budget and $35,000 for its Fire Truck Fund.
• Town budget. Voters will consider a town budget of $752,647, a 1.47-percent increase.
• Nonprofit aid. Voters will decide whether to approve $27,435 for 23 nonprofit organizations.
• Bonds. Voters will decide whether to see if the town will supply bonds where, and if, they are required.
However, voters should know, according to Town Clerk Kent Young, that “the bonding is a standardized vote authorizing the Selectmen to procure bonds if necessary. We don't expect to have to borrow money this year.”
Townshend
Annual Town Meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the Town Hall.
• Budget. Voters will decide on a proposed $1.375 million budget for the operational expenses of the town, highway department, and library. Voters will also decide whether a new highway department truck should be purchased for $85,000.
• Stone Arch Bridge Reserve. In an attempt to keep the town's historic stone arch bridges in repair, voters will decide whether $5,000 should be placed into a reserve fund dedicated to their upkeep.
• Elections: Voters will elect a town clerk, town treasurer, two Selectboard members, two listers, an auditor, property tax collector, delinquent tax collector, two constables, a town grand juror, town agent, library trustee, and cemetery commissioner.
Vernon
Meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at the Vernon Elementary School cafeteria on Monday, March 4.
Meeting will adjourn and recommence 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, if necessary.
Voting booths will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
• Budget. Voters will decide on a proposed $3.021 million budget to cover the operating expenses of the town, highway department, emergency services, retirement funds, professional services, and the town library.
• Elections. Voters will elect two Selectboard members, a town moderator, a town clerk, a lister, an auditor, two constables, a town agent, a grand juror, and a delinquent-tax collector. Two town school directors and one town school district moderator will also be elected.
• Voters should know: “A lot of our taxes were decided at the [Brattleboro Union High School] meeting but if they want to voice their opinion, they should come out and vote,” Town Clerk Sandy Harris said.
Wardsboro
Meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Town Hall.
• Budget.
• Social services. Voters will determine whether to offer $91,309 to various nonprofit organizations.
Westminster
The Annual Town Meeting will take place at the Bellows Falls Union High School Auditorium on Saturday, March 2, at 10 a.m., to decide on the warning items that will be debated on the floor.
The meeting will then recess until Tuesday, March 5, when polls will open at 8 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. Voting takes place at the Westminster Institute, East Parish.
The meeting will then be recessed until 8 p.m., when voters will return to the high school to decide on any remaining articles.
• Tax penalty reduction. Voters will decide whether to reduce the late tax penalty from 8 percent to 3 percent if all interests, taxes, and penalties are paid within 30 days of the second installment due date.
• Sheriff. Voters will decide whether to approve $37,000 toward a shared contract with the Windham County Sheriff's Department between the town and Putney.
The contract would provide the equivalent of a full-time sheriff's deputy for the town.
• Swimming pool. Voters will decide whether to approve $2,500 for the Westminster Recreational Club for the purchase of insurance and maintenance for a swimming pool.
• Highway equipment reserves. Voters will determine whether $130,000 will be appropriated for the Town Highway Equipment Reserve Fund.
• Bridge rehabilitation reserves. Voters will consider whether to raise and appropriate $15,000 to the Bridge Rehabilitation Reserve Fund.
• Budget. Voters will decide a $1.814 million general expense fund.
Whitingham
Voters will meet at 10 a.m. at the Whitingham School.
• Road paving. Voters will be asked to approve the town's borrowing of $1 million to implement a 10-year plan for maintaining the town's blacktop roads. “Some of our roads are in rough shape,” said Town Clerk Almira Aekus.
According to the annual report of Road Commissioner Stanley Janovsky Jr., the town has been able to repave just over one mile per year of the town's 30 miles of paved roads. With $2 million over 10 years - $1 million now and a second $1 million after the first loan is repaid in five years - the department hopes to repave an additional 10 miles of road.
If approved, the Highway Department will subcontract one or two excavating companies to help repave Wilmington Cross Roads (2.03 miles), Burrington Hill Road (3.44 miles), Fuller Hill Road (.59 miles), Ginny Morse Road (.73 miles), Town Hill Road (1.59 miles), Gates Pond Road/Mill Hill (1.64 miles).
Interest cost for the two loans over 10 years would total $69,000 at 2.3 percent.
• Budget. Voters will be asked to raise and appropriate $701,319 for general use in the next fiscal year.
Voters will be asked to approve $65,175 for the fire department, $971,074 for highways, $66,252 for the Whitingham Free Public Library, $14,500 for the Whitingham Ambulance Service, and $15,075 for cemeteries.
Voters will be asked to consider equipment funds: $20,000 for the fire department, $75,000 for the highway department, and $10,000 for the Municipal Facilities Fund.
• Social services. Voters will consider approving $12,558 for 10 regional nonprofits.
Wilmington
Meeting begins at the Wilmington High School gymnasium at 10 a.m. Voting booths will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Budget. Voters will agree upon a town budget, currently set at $3.04 million for the general and highway funds, and an additional $100,000 towards the Fire Department Equipment Reserve Fund.
• Repayment of Dover loan. Voters will also decide whether to repay Dover the $20,000 that was lent to the town due to flooding from Tropical Storm Irene and for the cost of retaining Montpelier-based KSE Partners LLC to advocate for the two communities on education issues.
• Economic development fund. Voters will decide whether to create a new fund, the Economic and Community Development Reserve Fund, whose purpose “is to fund economic and community development within the town of Wilmington,” according to Town Clerk Susan Haughwout.
The new fund comes from proceeds from the 1-percent option sales/meals and alcoholic beverages/room tax approved by voters at the 2012 Annual Town Meeting.
• Elections. Voters will elect a moderator, town clerk, treasurer, two Selectboard members, three listers, two constables, a grand juror, town agent, cemetery commissioner, two members of the budget committee and a library trustee.
Vying for the three-year Selectboard term will be Rebecca Morris and Jason White. Jim Burke will compete for the two-year Selectboard term against Miller P. Longbothom.
Voters will choose two listers from the three candidates: John Gannon, Fred Houston, and Thomas Consolino.
Windham
Annual Town Meeting at the Town Hall begins at 10 a.m.
• Elections. In what Selectboard chair Mary Boyer called “the first major item of business,” voters will elect a successor to town clerk/treasurer Carol C. Merritt, who has held the posts for 35 years and who will not be seeking re-election for either position. Both positions are for a three-year term.
Boyer noted that “Peter Chamberlain and Bill Lyons will each be running for both jobs.”
She added that Allison Trowbridge is a candidate for clerk and Mary McCoy a candidate for treasurer.
“Windham does not vote by Australian ballot, which means that a candidate can be nominated from the floor for consideration in the balloting,” she said.
On Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Meeting House, the Windham Community Organization will sponsoring a Meet the Candidates night for voters.
• Budgets. “The town budget is basically the same as last year,” Boyer said of the $202,376 proposed for the general fund.
• School budget. Voters will be asked to approve $365,608 for the Windham School District's 2013-2014 school year.
• Highways and bridges. The projected budget is down approximately $2,656 from last year, and voters will consider items totaling $384,344 for the highways and bridges budget this year.
• Reappraisal. Voters will consider spending $20,000 for a town-wide reappraisal and whether the town will change its method of appraising from cost to a market-value.
The money will go into a restricted fund, which has been accumulating for seven years, Boyer said, and the listers are hoping to start the process in the summer of 2013.