Editor’s note: This article is by Howard Weiss-Tisman, of the Brattleboro Reformer, in which a longer version was first published March 4, 2015.
BRATTLEBORO — Brattleboro voters overwhelmingly rejected a nonbinding ballot article asking Town Meeting representatives to consider a 1 percent local option tax to help the town pay for the police-fire renovation project.
Residents voted 672-361 against the measure, which was put on the Town Meeting Day ballot to give Town Meeting representatives an indication of support for the new tax.
Town Meeting representatives will vote on the proposed tax at the March 21 Representative Town Meeting.
This is at least the third time Town Meeting reps have considered a 1 percent local option tax, which the town finance office says could raise about $600,000 annually.
“It looks like we can let that one die,” Selectboard member John Allen said when the results were announced at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Voters also rejected an article that would have allowed 16- and 17-year-old citizens to vote in local elections. The vote was 390 in support of the change and 679 against it.
Town Clerk Annette Cappy said voting started out slowly in Brattleboro Tuesday, with no contested races, but by the time the polls closed at 7 p.m. about 15 percent of the town’s registered voters had made it out to the Municipal Center to vote. Cappy said 1,109 votes were cast Tuesday out of the town’s 7,547 registered voters.
