Essex town voters approved a 22% property tax increase Tuesday, according to preliminary results provided by Town Clerk Susan McNamara-Hill, on the first Town Meeting Day since Essex Junction separated from the town to become its own city.
The proposed budget for fiscal year 2024 totaled $15.4 million. On its surface, that amounted to a 7% decrease from the current budget, but because Essex Junction claimed half the population and 44% of the community’s property values in the divorce, the town was left with a far smaller tax base to foot its bills.
Voters overwhelmingly supported the proposed budget 657-303.
A homeowner with a house assessed at $280,000 — the median for the town — can expect a $340 increase in their property taxes in the fiscal year that starts July 1, according to Daniel Roy, the town’s financial director.
At the final public meeting before putting the budget to voters, the selectboard approved it 3-1, with Kendall Chamberlin as the sole no vote.
Essex Junction is looking at a proposed 1.5% property tax increase in a budget scheduled for a vote in April. Until the two communities separated, effective July 1, 2022, Essex Junction property owners paid taxes to both the village and town, and supported services in both.
Essex Junction will continue to pay toward the local police department and property assessing services. The city will also help fund the senior center through December.
The town’s local dues to Green Mountain Transit, the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission and other regional organizations decreased in this year’s budget, since those fees are linked to population.
The town budget increases fire department wages for the first time in five years, from $15.50 an hour to $17 an hour, and firefighters will now be paid for hours spent in training.
The budget also includes a dramatic per-capita increase for Essex Rescue, a private, nonprofit rescue service that answers 911 calls in Essex, Essex Junction, Jericho, Underhill and Westford.
The rescue service requested $542,970 in total municipal contributions for fiscal 2024, a $213,870 increase from 2023 and a whopping $436,715 increase from 2022. Expenses and use of the service have soared, agency leaders say. Data presented by Essex Rescue indicates that 44% of the rescue service’s call volume in 2021 came from Essex Junction, 43% from Essex, 7% from Jericho, 5% from Underhill and 1% from Westford.
Under the budget approved Tuesday, Essex Town will pay the rescue service an additional $7.09 per resident, bringing the cost up to $18 per capita.
Charter changes
In other ballot items, voters considered a series of amendments to the Essex town charter. Charter changes approved by voters are subject to approval by the state Legislature.
- Voters overwhelmingly approved a charter amendment to allow the selectboard to charge licensing fees, 748-197. (Local licensing fees could include charges for things such as “setting off fireworks,” Tracey Delphia, selectboard vice chair, said in an online budget presentation Feb. 1.)
- Voters approved a charter change that would grant the selectboard the power to ban “no-cause” evictions. That charter amendment passed 570-383.
- Voters approved a charter change to allow residents to trigger a recall vote on selectboard members. To recall a member, 15% of the town’s registered voters would need to sign a petition demanding a recall, and file the petition with the town clerk. The town would then need to hold a recall vote within 60 days. That charter amendment passed 666-266.
Selectboard incumbents Ethan Lawrence and Andy Watts were reelected to three-year terms in an uncontested race.
