Royalton’s annual Town Meeting will take place on Tuesday, March 7, at 10 a.m. in the South Royalton High School auditorium. Polls will be open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for balloted voting on both the school and town warnings. The annual school meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Monday, March 6, in the South Royalton School gymnasium.

Royalton — Voters at Town Meeting will decide two contested Selectboard elections and address a municipal budget proposal that reflects an added burden stemming from town leaders’ decision not to rely on delinquent taxes.

Proposed general fund expenditures for fiscal year 2018 are $1,165,926, an increase of roughly $30,000 that will require $1.03 million raised in taxes, according to the warning.

Selectboard members said in the town report that the tax levy, a roughly $170,000 increase over the current fiscal year’s, was rising because of their decision to stop relying on the expected collection of delinquent taxes to balance the budget.

“We used to take and budget for delinquent tax income,” Selectboard Chairman Larry Trottier said, “and we’ve had the people from the auditors say that’s not a good thing to do.”

Over the years, “we’ve been working away at it,” he said; this year, they are not counting on any of that money.

The highway budget came in at just over $870,000, of which $725,650 would be raised in taxes. That represents a nearly $200,000 decrease in spending over the current year and a similar decrease in the tax levy.

Trottier said the dip in highway spending had come mostly from fuel costs and a pause in regular contributions to the department’s equipment fund. The annual highway fuel budget has remained artificially high in recent years as gas prices have dipped, he said.

Town officials haven’t yet estimated what their spending plan’s effect on the tax rate will be. Those calculations typically happen in the summer, Trottier said, once voters have decided on a budget and property valuations are in.

On the Selectboard, incumbent board member Phil Gates is running for re-election to a 3-year term against former Planning Commission Chairman Tim Dreisbach.

Joan Goldstein, who occupies a 2-year seat on the Selectboard, is not running again. Gidget Lyman, Royalton’s emergency management coordinator, and Tony Salls have joined the race to replace her.

On the school side of things, the proposed spending budget, at $5.8 million, is down nearly $300,000 over the current year’s.

Much of the decrease in spending is attributable to special education costs from the White River Valley Supervisory Union, which have nearly halved, according to budget documents.

Per-pupil spending, the figure that more directly translates to the tax impact on residents, is increasing about 0.13 percent, however. Administrators anticipate spending $14,776 per equalized pupil.

Residents also may decide a contested School Board election. Tim Murphy, a former chairman who said he would step down from the board in 2016, now is running again, according to a sample ballot provided by the town clerk. He faces Dorothy Chap Rikert in the race for a 2-year seat.

Royalton in March will be one of four towns to consider a resolution opposing “NewVistas,” Utah developer David Hall’s plan to create a settlement of thousands on land in Sharon, Royalton, Strafford and Tunbridge.

Residents have expressed concern that NewVistas, a vision for a self-sustaining community that Hall based on designs by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon church, could weigh on public services and change the character of their communities.

Hall has said that his project is not likely to be built in his lifetime.

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.