Vermonters went to their town halls yesterday to discuss and vote on town issues and budgets.
As town meeting day progressed, local elections and municipal budgets were decided. School budgets were presented and considered. Vermont School Boards Association Executive Director Stephen Dale had been worried that many would fail because a state calculation in the tax rates would mean property taxes would go up in some communities regardless of the outcome of school budget votes. As of Wednesday morning, 248 districts presented budgets—207 reported the budget had passed, while 34 were defeated, many of them in the state’s larger communities. Dale notes that those that failed had fairly sizeable proposed tax increases. “I think in some of those instances those defeats were more a statement of concern about the overall education finance system and where the funds come from and how tax rates get set than it was about the work of a local board. So what we saw this year was a somewhat higher than normal number of defeats.”
A controversial gas pipeline was on the ballot in the towns of Cornwall, Shoreham and Monkton. In a non-binding resolution, voters opposed a plan by Vermont Gas to extend a natural gas pipeline through their communities. Toxics Action Center Community Organizer Naomi Leary says local residents aren’t buying arguments for the necessity of the pipeline. “The CEO of Vermont Gas on March thirty-first of 2011 said that we won't come if people don't want us. Even though it's non-binding in the legal sense, this is a really clear demonstration that people don't want this pipeline and that people really don't need it.”
There were numerous measures on Burlington’s Town Meeting Day ballot, including three controversial gun-control measures. The three articles would allow police officers to confiscate guns, ammo or weapons from suspected domestic abusers, ban firearms from locations with liquor licenses and require firearms to be locked when not with th users. Gun Sense Vermont President Ann Braden is pleased that all three passed. “The voters in Burlington have sent a clear message to our state lawmakers that it’s time for action on gun violence prevention.”
The gun measures are a charter change and must be approved by the state legislature. The Vermont Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs is the state NRA affiliate. Vice President Evan Hughes says the Town Meeting Day vote was an attack on a gun rights bill enacted in 1988. “The city was able to word the issues on the ballot to be favorable to their passage, and they got the victory they were looking for.”
Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger welcomed voter support of all the ballot measures, which included redistricting and waterfront development. Weinberger says the waterfront has been in the planning for over a year. “It is a significant plan. Over the next coming years now that this has gotten a green light people will see changes on the Burlington waterfront from the area around the Moran building where there will public investments that will support a new permanent home for the sailing center. There will be public infrastructure to support a new marina. There will be investments in waterfront parks. There will be investments in the area around the ECHO Center and a significant effort to see if we can do something great with the Moran building. It was reassuring to see that almost seventy percent of the city voted in favor of it.”
A majority of communities approved a measure to support the creation of a public bank in Vermont. Residents of Wilmington rejected a measure to establish an emergency and disaster fund. And residents of Lowell voted to support the Kingdom Community Wind project, which is generating electricity for Green Mountain Power.
