Ask East Montpelier Clerk Rosie Laquerre about this year’s March Town Meeting agenda and she’ll respond, “Nothing exciting or unusual.”
Then again, after a pandemic pause, just the fact the meeting is taking place is exciting and unusual.
“East Montpelier is back to business,” Laquerre says.
The town is one of 175 Vermont communities set to resume in-person gatherings after two years of Covid-safe paper ballots. But while the state’s 28 biggest municipalities will vote on a collective $100 million in bond proposals to fix everything from sidewalks to sewer pipes, their 219 counterparts with populations of less than 5,000 people aren’t considering nearly as many special requests, according to a VTDigger survey.
That, in part, is because many regular budgets are rising. In a worst-case example, the 715 residents of Peacham will meet in person to debate and decide on a proposed $1.78 million budget that’s up 26.6%.
“Nothing particular,” Peacham Town Clerk Thomas Galinat said when asked what’s sparking the increase. “Cost of living, mud season preparedness, diesel, etc.”
Such hikes, in turn, have local leaders from northernmost Alburgh to southernmost Vernon reluctant to propose too much additional spending.
Although nearly a third of the state’s 28 largest municipalities are asking for a collective $55.5 million in water system improvements, for example, only two smaller communities will consider similar bonds: Bethel at $2.5 million and Richmond at $1.9 million.
Calais, for its part, is seeking $450,000 to renovate its nearly 150-year-old Curtis Pond dam — a plan for which supporters have raised nearly $230,000 in supplemental funds.
As for other big-ticket items:
Londonderry will vote on a $1.3 million bond for improvements to its town office building.
Hinesburg will vote on a $850,000 fire truck, while Dummerston will consider a similar $500,000 vehicle.
Hardwick will vote on a $500,000 bond to buy a gravel pit in nearby Greensboro.
Alburgh will vote on $300,000 for the startup of a professional rescue squad.
A few towns will consider tapping federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for local projects.
Ferrisburgh will vote on buying a $324,000 grader with $200,000 of ARPA money, $15,000 from a truck fund and the remaining $110,000 from a bond.
New Haven will vote on using $70,000 in ARPA money to buy 5 acres of land to relocate its fire station.
In other matters, Jamaica and Londonderry will join the larger municipalities of Rutland City, Shelburne and Stowe in deciding whether to add or alter a 1% local option tax on such items as sales, rooms, meals and alcohol.
Several towns will cast ballots on a growing trend to professionalize their governance structures, be it by replacing volunteers with paid experts, appointing rather than electing support staff, or eliminating antiquated posts.
Voters will consider swapping out listers for assessors in Panton and Wilmington.
They’ll weigh eliminating the office of constable in Concord, Kirby, Pownal, Wells and Weston.
And they’ll decide whether to hire a town manager in Royalton and change the positions of town clerk and treasurer from elected to appointed in West Haven.
Five southern Vermont towns will consider pooling resources to employ a shared recreation director, with Londonderry paying up to $95,386, Winhall $25,000, Peru $13,000, Weston $7,500 and Landgrove $3,900.
Rounding out ballots, Dummerston will vote on an advisory article to join nearly 100 other Vermont communities in supporting diversity and equity by signing a Declaration of Inclusion.
Royalton will weigh overturning its ordinance regulating where and when all-terrain vehicles can be operated.
Roxbury will decide whether to rescind its new ordinance on “the disposal of solid waste and the outdoor storage of junk and junk vehicles.”
And Bethel and Brighton will consider whether to join some 70 Vermont communities that allow local retail sales of cannabis.
“This is the third time we’ve voted on it,” Brighton Town Clerk Teresa Potwin said. “They don’t want to take no for an answer.”
