BRATTLEBORO-Elected meeting members will convene Representative Town Meeting (RTM) on Saturday, March 22 at 8:30 a.m. in the Brattleboro Union High School gymnasium to consider a recommended $25,184,081 fiscal 2026 budget that could mean a 12.1% increase in property taxes.
If the meeting is not completed by 5 p.m., the body assembled will decide whether to continue the meeting or to reconvene on Sunday, March 23.
A full house of folks turned out at Academy School on March 12 for a pre-RTM informational meeting to review the 18-article warning.
Safety and trash plans
A total request of $851,836 to pay for the proposed Downtown Safety Action Plan ($675,669) and the new solid waste service plan ($176,167) drew much comment.
As described in the RTM Finance Committee's annual report, the town maintains an emergency fund - the Unassigned Fund Balance - from which these unanticipated expenses in the current fiscal year were paid.
"It's pretty complicated," said Selectboard Chair Daniel Quipp.
Town Counsel Robert Fisher then explained these expenditures "go beyond what the budget called for, so in essence, there's been a bit of an overspending."
"We're asking you to ratify those decisions made by the board," he said.
The fund is designed to contain approximately 10% of the budget, to be used only to stabilize cash flow and for emergencies. The Finance Committee's report charged that the Selectboard "recently made decisions that did not adhere to these principles."
Citing the spending of $676,000 as part of the Downtown Safety Action Plan, of which $326,000 "was for ongoing and routine expenditures in the current fiscal year," the committee's report said that "the decision to embed this significant increase of nine staff into the proposed base budget circumvented public deliberations at Selectboard meetings of costs and benefits, including any anticipated tax impacts."
Quipp noted three new members will join the Selectboard soon - they will be sworn in at the board's organizational meeting on Monday, March 24 at 6:15 p.m. - and said he would "leave it to them" as to how to handle the fund balance.
During his tenure, Quipp said, the town has typically held a balance of about $2 million in the fund.
Deciding how, and if, to support human service spending
Voters will also be asked to advise the Selectboard as to how much to include in the budget to allocate to human service programs.
A March 4 nonbinding referendum question to advise Representative Town Meeting to limit human services funding fell short of a clear voter consensus, with 559 voters asking for the funding to be set at more than 2% of the budget, 469 saying it should be between 1% and 2%, 437 saying no money should be allocated, 425 saying it should be less than 1%, and 418 saying it should be equal to 2%.
Currently, the recommended budget includes $461,276 to be allocated in the following manner:
• AIDS Project of Southern Vermont, $2,000
• Big Brothers Big Sisters, $7,500
• Bonnyvale Environmental Education Center, $3,150
• Boys & Girls Club, $17,000
• Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing, $10,000
• Brattleboro Area Hospice, $7,400
• Brattleboro Centre for Children, $5,400
• Brattleboro Senior Meals, $10,000
• Building a Positive Community, $4,000
• Community Asylum Seekers Project, $10,000
• Community Safety Organization, $7,000
• Ethiopian Community Development Council, $10,000
• Families First in Southern Vermont, $12,500
• Family Garden, $2,500
• Food Connects, $10,000
• The Gathering Place, $5,000
• Green Mountain RSVP, $1,031
• Groundworks Collaborative, $75,000
• Health Care & Rehabilitation Services, $10,000
• Interaction (formerly Youth Services), $20,000
• Meeting Waters-YMCA, $10,000
• New England Youth Theater, $3,150
• Out in the Open (formerly Green Mountain Crossroads), $20,000
• Putney Foodshelf, $7,500
• Rich Earth Institute, $1,500
• Senior Solutions, $18,000
• SEVCA, $13,300
• SUSU Community Farm, $13,000
• The Root Social Justice Center, $25,000
• Theatre Adventure, $3,000
• Turning Point, $25,000
• Vermont Adult Learning, $2,400
• Vermont Association for the Blind, $700
• Vermont Center for Independent Living, $1,600
• Vermont Family Network, $2,500
• Windham County Dental Center (United Way), $15,000
• Windham County Humane Society, $2,000
• Windham County Safe Place Child Advocacy Center, $15,000
• Windham & Windsor Housing Trust, $10,000
• Winston Prouty Center for Child & Family, $15,000
• Women's Freedom Center, $18,145
• Summer Food Program (WSESU), $10,000
Other revenues
Articles also include spending $131,698.86 through special assessments on property within the Mountain Home Park Special Benefit Assessment Tax District to pay debt service on the capital improvements to the water and sewer lines serving the Mountain Home and Deepwood mobile home parks.
Years ago the town helped the park finance improvements with a loan, and this allows the park to repay the town annually.
Also to be considered is raising and appropriating $80,000 through special assessments on properties within the Downtown Improvement District, to be used for capital and operating costs of projects of the town's designated downtown organization, the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.