Town Meeting Day is a week away. It’s the traditional time in Vermont when residents gather to discuss and vote on school and municipal budgets and choose local leaders. This year school budgets loom large as the state legislature works to diminish a potential double-digit increase in property taxes across the state.
Communities across the state will vote on a range of issues including whether to approve a solar array in Brandon, spending on capital projects like roads and bridges, and replacing aging schools.
Middlebury College Professor of Political Science Bert Johnson says across the state the main local issue that is overriding all other considerations is school financing. As the state legislature works to stem a possible 18 to 20 percent property tax hike, he says many school budget votes may not occur on Town Meeting Day.
“In the Upper Valley particularly I’m noticing that various towns have delayed their school budget votes so that they can adjust them in light of what the Legislature has done," noted Johnson. "So, I think it may be that these discussions will take place going on into the spring. Usually they can’t delay but the law passed by the Legislature just recently, H.850, allows them to delay in light of the change in the 5% property tax cap. You’re seeing some frustration from school boards as they try to deal with what for them is a moving target. So I imagine voters are feeling the same way.”
Among the local elections Tuesday, the mayoral race in Burlington pitting Democrat Joan Shannon, Progressive Emma Mulvaney-Stanak and Independents William Emmons and Christopher Haessly is gaining the most attention. Democratic Mayor Miro Weinberger is not seeking a fifth three-year term.
“I think it’s pretty clear, and it has been since at least the Democratic caucus, that the race is largely about public safety and then there are other issues, of course, like housing and affordability," Johnson said. "Those seem to be the consensus issues that are dominating.”
Johnson adds that there is also an unusual amount of turnover on the Burlington City Council.
“Because certain members of the city council have left leaving open seats. So the balance of the city council is what I’ll be looking at. Will the Democrats wind up having a solid majority or not?”
Every year Town Meeting TVholds a series of debates, forums and informational sessions previewing Town Meeting Day. In Winooski, Mayor Kristine Lott is running unopposed. In early February, she talked about the impact of citywide reappraisal and how the state formula for student funding could affect taxpayers.
“At the beginning of this process we anticipated Winooski School District finally receiving appropriate resources for the population we serve and that this would probably mean they wouldn’t need to raise taxes on the school side of the bill," Lott said. "But education spending is just going up this year so we really don’t know what that’s going to look like. And it’s also unclear how our reappraisal is going to impact that. So on the city side of things, you’re going to vote on $11 million whatever. That’s the amount of money we collect no matter what your assessment is. The education side is just less clear because of the funding formula. It’s important for voters to know that none of us know exactly what the impact of this budget and those changes is going to be.”
Town Meeting Day is Tuesday March 5th . Early voting has begun for communities using paper ballots.
