BRATTLEBORO-In a marathon 10-hour session (not counting lunch and a few short breaks), Representative Town Meeting (RTM) members sent a proposed $24.7 million budget back to the drawing board in a vote of 76–57.
That budget included about $19 million in property taxes and was expected to cause tax bills to rise by about $320 annually for those with median household incomes.
More than 130 members started the meeting on Saturday, March 22, many newly elected. So did three new Selectboard members, who took their seats for a first time March 24, when the board reorganized.
Elizabeth McLouglin will now serve as chair, Oscar Heller as vice chair, and Isaac Evans-Frantz as clerk.
"I think we're going to have a great year, and we're a great team. We're going to listen to each other, and the community, and staff […] and we're going to do the work," said McLoughlin after the organizational meeting.
"We've got some work to do, people - that, we know. I'm looking forward to finding the middle ground on some of these conversations," said board member Peter Case.
The newly organized board will take up the budget and present a new plan to RTM, presumably before June 30, the end of the fiscal year.
The general budget discussion at Representative Town Meeting took up more than four hours as Moderator David Gartenstein allowed comments for as long as they were forthcoming.
Selectboard members said when the budgeting process started, their first budget kept the current level of service "and a few new things." Under that first plan, municipal taxes would have risen by 22%.
But whittling that to an about 12% tax increase was not good enough for the majority of RTM voters.
"I don't ever remember the budget being sent back to the board," said former Selectboard member/chair Dick DeGray, who was out of town for Saturday's meeting. "I also don't remember the budget being cut at RTM."
DeGray called into the Monday, March 24 meeting, saying he was "disappointed" in the human services budget vote and asking the newly formed board to take it to a vote at the next RTM.
Also on Monday, the Town Manager's Office also sent a press release that defended the whole of the new public safety efforts, saying that the original budget included "a combination of strategic investments to address community safety concerns and build long-term capacity."
In the release, Case said the previous board knew the budget vote would be "an uphill climb, but we live in a community that still respects democracy, so now it's back to the drawing board."
The previous budget, the statement said, included funding for additional police officers to respond to sustained increases in crime, while also supporting the behind-the-scenes work needed to launch One Brattleboro, a collaborative initiative that brings together public safety, social service providers, and community partners to reduce future reliance on police through prevention, outreach, and coordinated response."
"These two efforts were designed to work together," said Town Manager John Potter. "The new police positions would help stabilize the current situation, while One Brattleboro builds a stronger, more connected system that keeps people from falling into crisis in the first place."
"The Selectboard and Town Manager acknowledge the importance of structural balance in long-term financial planning and agree that financial sustainability remains a critical goal," the release said. "Residents are encouraged to stay engaged in the budget process. Information about upcoming meetings and opportunities for input will be shared soon."
Scare tactics or reality?
Saturday's Representative Town Meeting was the last formal public appearance of the previous Selectboard whose members shepherded the budget in a months-long process from municipal planning to the meeting floor.
Case echoed other board members, acknowledging "everybody's apprehension around this" and said that the whole board knew the increase would be a hard pill to swallow.
He said he wanted to be sure folks knew the "impact of leaving without an approved budget" and called on Department of Public Works Director Dan Tyler and Parks and Recreation Director Carol Lolatte to speak.
Tyler said no approved budget now would likely mean a delay in road work and possible loss of the construction season altogether.
He noted other surrounding towns had already held their meetings and budgets are in place; thus, they are already advertising road jobs.
That, he said, could mean a smaller pool to draw from and more expensive costs for Brattleboro jobs.
He said a planned paving project would "likely be pushed into next year."
Lolatte encouraged passing a budget "of some sort so that we have something to work with," saying it's time to hire summer staff members - lifeguards and other workers - "to teach your children and grandchildren how to swim."
She said that potential personnel could be lost to other towns in the meantime and that she doesn't want to see things "stuck in the mud here."
But those concerns were deemed "scare tactics" by former Selectboard member Kathleen O'Connor of District 9.
"We don't have to pass a budget until June 30," she reminded voters several times. "I want us all to vote 'no' on this because it's irresponsible."
She described the budget as having "so many things wrong with it beside the tax increase [that it would be] too messed up for us to fix it here."
"We can give [the Selectboard] all the direction they want," O'Connor said. "We are part of the town charter; we have to have our say."
Outgoing Selectboard Chair Daniel Quipp, who did not seek a seventh year on the board, said he understood why folks are "mad about this budget."
"It's a huge increase," he acknowledged, saying board members "wrestled" with how to address challenges and "significant" increases in the police and trash disposal budgets, plus more in health insurance and union personnel negotiation increases.
"If you're mad about it, that's OK; I'm not psyched about it myself," Quipp said. "What we brought forward is what we thought is a responsible budget."
He also asked what the three new members, who have been critical to varied degrees, think will make it better.
"They will wrestle with the same hard questions," Quipp said. "They will do so with less contacts, less time, and less staff. I would like to hear what their plan is."
The three new board members - Amanda Ellis-Thurber, Isaac Evans-Frantz, and Oscar Heller - responded as asked.
Ellis-Thurber said she knows as a farmer that seasonal timing of any project is vital. She asked the body to "consider what Carol and Dan just mentioned."
"I recommend we lower the budget a certain amount that we all agree with as a group and move on with that," she said.
Evans-Frantz said the newly formed Selectboard would need to look at the work to date, listen to the RTM comments and others, and meet with the Finance Committee.
Heller said he hadn't at that moment decided how to vote on the budget but that he didn't "love the options."
"I may vote 'yes' on this budget," he said. "There are real costs to voting 'no,' and it really will burden town staff, and it will be a huge burden on a brand new board."
He went on, however, to say he has "many issues with the budget and budget process."
"I reject the premise that it's irresponsible for Town Meeting to consider a 'no' vote," he said, adding he also rejected "that to criticize the process you need to step up to the microphone with a fully formed plan."
District 8 Rep. Spoon Agave said that if the new board looks at the budget, at least it would provide taxpayers more confidence that another group of board members reviewed it.
And Craig Miscovich of District 7 said, "If we're not deliberating, we might as well be in Australian ballot."
Paula Melton of District 7, said long-term financial planning "has not happened," nor has "risk management" been properly addressed.
"We cannot get a perfect budget out of a compressed process by voting 'no,' but we can get a better budget, and we can hope that the new Selectboard will be better listeners," she said.
Former Town Manager Peter Elwell, noted, as did Quipp, that the body would need to decide "what are we willing to do without and how much are we willing to tax ourselves."
Elwell said he'd vote against the proposed budget to allow new board members to "wrestle with" these things "in a way that is more respectful of our RTM Finance Committee."
In its report to the meeting representatives, the committee criticized the Selectboard's process in using the town's unassigned emergency fund to pay for implementing "ongoing and routine" aspects of the Downtown Safety Action Plan the board implemented in 2024.
Quipp responded to numerous allegations that the board didn't listen to constituents, saying the budget was entirely based on feedback.
"We didn't make it in isolation," he said, asking what would be acceptable. All RTM members have been elected, he said, so "let's do that work. Let's do it right now."
District 7 Rep. Marta Gossage disagreed, saying she saw people offer feedback and that it was "rebuffed for various reasons."
"The input was there this year," Gossage said. "We pretty much feel highjacked" when "none of [the community response] was taken."
It was like "talking to a brick wall," she said. "This particular Selectboard was going to do what it was going to do."
"Clearly, this is a community wrestling with how much we should spend," Quipp said, acknowledging the 12% increase as hard and painful and again asking what should be cut.
He said that, for instance, solid waste disposal could be eliminated and the town would save half a million dollars. But folks would still have to take their trash to the dump and private disposal will cost them more, he added.
Potter, as did board members, listened calmly to accusations that they have been "irresponsible," and worse, in crafting the budget.
"Town government in Brattleboro is extremely lean," Potter said. "What we're looking at and discussing is significant reductions to this budget, which will have an impact on every department; you will see services reduced across the board."
He said that the result would be "a reduced scope of local government, and that takes time."
"Otherwise, you're making broad cuts, similar to what's happening at the federal level," Potter continued. "By all means, if you want to slam the brakes on and burn it down, we'll figure out how to do that."
"I think we've got to just suck it up and pass this budget," said District 7 Rep. William Manders. "We need to raise revenue in this town and not depend entirely on the tax base to pay our expenses."
Amendments to reduce the budget to within 3% and 4% of the current year's budget were both soundly defeated.
Emergency spending or poor planning?
After a several-hour discussion, voters agreed 73–62 to appropriate up to $851,836 to defray emergency expenses associated with the Downtown Safety Action Plan ($675,669), and $176,167 in solid waste service costs for the current fiscal year, from the Unassigned Fund Balance.
The alternative, explained Town Counsel Robert Fisher, would have been to deficit spend, requiring auditors to come up with a new fund balance for a second year.
"If we start to establish a pattern, with a large debt, that could have an impact," Potter said. "It's all about risk management for you."
Members did not agree without protest, starting with Alex Fisher of District 8, who wanted to know what criteria would constitute an emergency.
Case said serious problems downtown have been growing over two years.
From reports of human and sex trafficking, public defecation, theft, needle use on the street, accosting of passersby, and more, he said the situation had reached a breaking point.
"To suggest this was made in a vacuum by a small minority of people who are loud, I would harshly disagree with that," he said. "Was it an emergency? Yes. If we ignore it, will it get worse? Yes."
Not all agreed, saying the solution to the problem should have been approached in a more considered, longterm manner.
One was Robin Morgan of District 8, who said a 'no' vote would "reflect irresponsible spending that puts the town at risk, and that's why I'm voting 'no.'"
Voting 'yes,' Morgan said, would send a message "that it's OK to suddenly spend."
"It could have been planned for in a long-term way," she said.
District 7 Rep. Marta Gossage chastised the board for using a "one-time fund for recurring expenses" and said that sentiment was voiced repeatedly during the process by folks attending Selectboard meetings.
"There were people saying, 'This is going to harm us, please don't use these funds,'" she said.
"I think what we're hearing is what we've heard all year long," Quipp said. "There's a lot of conflict around what to do, but there is a great deal to do."
He noted that during his six-year tenure on the board, his first year "was a different world" compared to his current term.
"I never experienced what I did this summer," he said of the debate over how to address issues of public safety.
For its part, the Selectboard, he said, "tried to take some action that was coming from administration and the police department that were trying to get a handle on things."
The town experienced a 16% rise in police dispatch calls in 2024 amid escalating citizen complaints on issues, including burglary, vandalism, panhandling, and public drug use.
"Nobody could deny there was something to be done, and this is what the board was trying to do this summer," Quipp said.
"If you want to raise the tax rate for FY26, you can do so, and the Selectboard can use the surplus to go into the fund balance," said outgoing Selectboard member Franz Reichsman, who, after the election, said the vote that ousted him and colleague Richard Davis was a message.
Police Chief Norma Hardy also spoke at the meeting, after being asked what prompted her to suggest the safety action plan.
She said two years ago she saw "rising crime, assaults, drug deals, homicides" and, although it "was not accepted well by the town […] it was a reality."
Things "got worse" she said, and she returned to the board, whose members "tasked me with coming up with an answer."
"We didn't have resources to handle some of the quality- of-life crimes being reported and also what was happening downtown," she said, noting complaints from both residents and business owners, working with a deficit of officers, and "trying to prioritize."
"Everyone wanted our attention; everyone needed our services," she said, and that led to her ultimately devising the Downtown Safety Action Plan.
Asked by George Carvill of District 8 whether the town could avoid being in deficit by spending less for the next three months [to the end of the current fiscal year], Potter said no.
He added the town has been setting aside money for "a rainy day fund for years" but hasn't used a penny.
"Not for Covid, not for Hurricane Irene," Potter said. "Nothing have you ever spent Unassigned Fund Balance [money] on."
Former Selectboard member Timothy Wessel, who made an unsuccessful bid to serve again, said that "unless you're a municipal accountant or bond expert, I would think very hard: Am I voting 'no' to signal something I'm not voting on? And, if that's the case, I think you should vote 'yes.'"
"Action was required, our Selectboard took action," said Rep. Andrew Davis of District 9, adding he thought the question was "well-vetted, well-discussed."
"I'll be voting 'yes' on this," he said.
"Reducing taxes compared to making our downtown safe? I think it's really easy [to tell] what may be an 'emergency,'" said Thomas Franks of District 9.
The situation downtown "looked like an emergency, and I've heard from many people it felt like an emergency," he said.
"Our needs have exceeded our means this year, and those needs were somewhat buffered by the fund balance," said Christopher Chapman of District 9, another former Selectboard member. "Both of these services include public health measures. People have been fearing for their safety and that of their children downtown" who are exposed to used needles discarded in the public sphere.
"We need to acknowledge the reality that our needs have risen so much and it's coming up against the ability to pay," Chapman said. "That's the real issue here."
Spoon Agave of District 8 disagreed.
"Essentially, it gives the Selectboard the power to raise taxes […] anytime they choose," said Agave, another alumnus of the Selectboard, calling an emergency a "one-time event" and observing that spending as the board did "essentially turns the rainy day fund into a slush fund."
Members held a comparatively short discussion regarding the trash bill.
The town is poised to transition to a new trash disposal system in 2026 but the bill from the new provider, Cassella, needed to be paid for a current year expense incurred when the contract was signed. Cassella was the only bidder.
Human services funding debated
Voters ultimately approved spending $461,276 in support of 42 human service programs and facilities after an attempt to halve the amount failed 103 to 32.
David Miner, chair of the Human Services Review Committee, said a record 52 groups applied for town funding this year and the panel had to reject about $330,000 of the requests.
District 9 Rep. Roni Byrne urged people to donate to whatever organizations they wish to support. She said that she and her husband contribute to local human services nonprofits but that they also debate their donations.
"I don't want anybody to feel I'm some heartless whatever," she said. "I'm not against human services. What I question is the allocation of monies from the taxpayers to organizations that are not providing critical needs to people at a time when they actually need that safety net."
Robert Tortolani, of District 8, however, said he'd vote against lowering the allocation.
"I think it's a mistake to reverse what we decided on last year after debate and consideration," he said, referencing a Representative Town Meeting decision to increase support for the human services nonprofits to 2% of the overall budget.
Toward the end of the meeting, and after another considerable debate, members voted to again set the rate for charitable donations in the budget at that same level for FY26.
The entire meeting can be viewed at Brattleboro Community Television's website, brattleborotv.org. Disclosure: Kate O'Connor, quoted in this story as a Representative Town Meeting member and citizen, is executive director of Vermont Independent Media, the nonprofit organization that publishes this newspaper.
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.