Woodstock
In the morning, a crowd of about 100 voters approved a municipal budget for fiscal year 2018 of $5.45 million, up 11.5 percent, or $562,000, from the current year’s budget.
Much of that increase is due to a merger of the village and town highway departments, which voters approved in the 1980s, but — for reasons lost to history — never took place. For years, village residents have been footing the bill both for their own highway department and contributing to the town’s. Moving forward, the two departments will merge, diverting some of the burden of these road costs to town residents.
“I’m thrilled to see a unified budget,” said Village Trustee Candace Coburn. “I think it’s the right thing to do.”
Some of the revenues from village residents will offset the increase from combining the two departments. The actual cost-shift will amount to about $160,000 in added burden on town taxes.
Under the approved budget, the amount raised by property taxes is $3.66 million, up about 14 percent, or $456,000, from the current year.
As a result of this budget, the amount town residents pay in property taxes is expected to increase nearly 13 percent to 48 cents per $100 of valuation, amounting to a $135 increase on the property tax bill for a home valued at $250,000.
In addition to the change in the highway budget, other municipal cost increases include benefits for two full-time town employees in roles — a paramedic and a dispatcher — that had previously been filled by part-time employees.
These are “just the variations that come with running a service like this,” said Selectboard Chairman Preston Bristow, who served as an emergency medical technician in Woodstock from 1980 to 1992.
Costs are also up for sand and salt, said Selectman John Doten Jr. Though there haven’t been many bad snowstorms, the town has “had a lot of little messy things (which) aren’t much to plow but the sanding is just about the same.”
After lunch, a slightly smaller group of voters returned to the Town Hall Theatre to approve a school budget of $3.52 million for the Woodstock Elementary School.
Though the budget is up $287,000 from the spending plan voters approved last year, the tax rate is actually expected to decrease about 1 cent to 71 cents per $100 of property value. To support the budget, owners of a home valued at $250,000 could expect to pay about $1,775 next year in taxes for the school.
The biggest area of increasing costs is in special education, said School Board Chairwoman Paige Hiller.
“We have become a leader in special education for these programs we are providing for these kids,” Hiller said.
Students from all the communities that make up the Windsor Central Supervisory Union send students to Woodstock Elementary School for the Program for Alternative Learning Styles, known as PALS, an intensive special needs program for students who need one-on-one assistance, said Woodstock Elementary School Principal Maggie Mills.
Another area of increase in the school budget is in preschool, Hiller said. Last year, the district saw 28 preschool students, more than twice the number it expected to take advantage of the state’s new universal preschool law, which requires local districts to pay for 10 hours per week of preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds during the school year.
“If the new governor wants us to level fund, (it’s) going to be impossible if we’re having to pay for this for all children who are in pre-K whether or not they are in need,” said Hiller, who said she had testified before the Legislature on the subject.
To help contain costs, the district found some savings in salaries and benefits from the retirement of three veteran teachers, Hiller said.
Though the budget was approved without contentiousness, there was some dispute over the compensation the School Board members ought to receive. The three members of the board earned $250 for the current fiscal year, but resident Marian Koetsier, a former School Board member, suggested bumping up their compensation to match that of the Selectboard, $1,000 annually.
Koetsier’s amendment to the initial proposal was approved by those gathered in a 37 to 18 vote. Moderator Matthew Maxham asked those present to stand and be counted because he couldn’t determine the voters’ intent from a voice vote.
After the amendment was approved, resident Al Alessi asked where they would find the additional money. Hiller, a 10-year veteran of the board, said that the district regularly has a surplus of between $65,000 and $90,000 at the end of the year.
In a discussion of other business at the end of the school meeting, School Board member Malena Agin, who also sat on an Act 46 committee which crafted a consolidation proposal voters will decide by Australian ballot on Tuesday, expressed support for the plan.
If approved, the plan would bring all six towns in the Windsor Central Supervisory Union together as one school district, managed by one board. It would also shift fifth- and sixth-graders, who currently attend school in Reading and Barnard, to other elementary schools in Killington, Pomfret and Woodstock.
Board members are excited about the opportunity to work together to provide preschool through 12th grade educational programs, Agin said.
“Before we started looking at Act 46 … we didn’t know each other,” Agin said. “It’s helped us really dig deep into our own communities and see where we are.”
Hiller said she views the proposed merger as a way to hedge against state-mandated changes as the town sees the same demographic shift faced by many communities around the state. In her 10 years on the board, Hiller said the elementary school’s enrollment has dropped from 210 to 155.
“That’s always going to be a challenge unless the state brings in more families,” Hiller said, noting that as the number of students declines, per pupil costs go up.
Without the merger, “it’s going to become more and more difficult to level fund on our own,” she said.
With a consolidation, however, it’s “going to be better in the long run and more sustainable,” she said.
Voters’ comments indicated they were open to a merger, but some were concerned about the details of the proposal. Resident David Schwartzman said the length of the article on the warning was burdensome and made it difficult for him to feel completely informed.
“I find it very hard to make any decision about this article,” he said.
The proposed composition of the merged board, which would include six members from Woodstock and two from the other participating towns, worried Marian Koetsier.
“I’m concerned about this board; that it is so weighted to Woodstock,” Koetsier said. “It’s going to be responsible for all of the kids in all of the towns.”
Woodstock resident Matt Stover, who sat on the Act 46 committee, said the proposed configuration is intended to offer proportional board representation, based on population. “Everyone needs to have an equal say,” he said.
In addition to the Act 46 merger, Woodstock voters will choose town and school officers and consider town appropriations in Town Meeting Day ballot voting.
Bristow, the Selectboard chairman, faces opposition for his seat from Sonya Stover. And Jill Davies is running unopposed to replace Selectboard member Margaretta Howe, who is stepping down from the board.
On Tuesday, the polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Town Hall.
Valley News Staff Writer Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
