Voters in Plymouth are going to be asked to give the selectboard another million dollars. We are also being asked to get rid of the right to vote for town clerk, tax collector and treasurer. Since we have no council, no manager, and no mayor, Plymouth’s Selectboard wants to turn most of the few remaining elected positions into appointed ones.
Plymouth isn’t having much luck in attracting candidates for these elected positions. Many of Plymouth’s elected positions are filled with only one candidate on the ballot. The voters don’t have a reliable public information program and “information meetings” are held the day before elections with no printed material available before or during these meetings.
Our mail-in ballots do not come with envelopes that allow secret ballots. The return envelopes must be opened to identify the voter on required sign-in sheets. This is an open-book ballot system..
There are too many reasons not to incur more debt for voters. Sen. Leahy will no longer represent Vermont in Washington and the federal dollars that have been generously flowing into Vermont will dry up within a year.
My mortgage escrow has just risen by $50 a month. Homeowners and renters can expect a rising cost of living. Last week Bloomberg TV shared its predictions that America’s financial outlook in 2023 doesn’t look good. Home values are falling and interest rates are rising; 2022’s last week showed a downward trend in the market.
I encourage Plymouth’s voters to require their selectboard to use the money that it has available to make the improvements that it can afford, and not put its residents in more debt.
Nancy Kessling
Plymouth