Thetford
Not only did they approve raising $1.3 million for Thetford’s general fund, easily fending off a motion that would have reduced spending by $70,000, but they also approved non-warned additions to social service appropriations and to the Department of Public Works Fund.
The social services change brought spending in that category up nearly $7,000 to about $46,500. The Selectboard had previously reduced total social service appropriations to be more in line with the percentage of the budget that neighboring towns devote to such causes.
But several Town Meeting speakers, including Beth McGee, an art teacher at Thetford Elementary School, said it wasn’t the time to reduce spending in social services. She noted that the school budget, which voters discussed earlier in the day and will vote on on Tuesday, includes fewer paraeducators, even though students’ needs are increasing, due in part due to societal changes.
McGee pointed specifically to school shootings in her remarks about the town’s social services spending: “If we want to aim toward less of those, this is a place I feel really strongly should not be touched,” she said.
The $60,000 addition to public works, bringing the total amount to be raised by taxes for the Department of Public Works Fund — which is separate from the general fund — to about $935,000, will cover the cost of interest on a bond the town has taken out to fund road repairs related to a storm last July 1. It was an amount that was included in the Selectboard’s budget summary, but board Chairman Stuart Rogers said he forgot to add it into the total warned amount.
Paying off the $60,000 in already accrued interest now will save the town thousands of dollars in future interest payments, said former Selectboard member Bill Huff. It would be “too bad to be paying back interest on interest,” he said.
“If we can afford to pay it off now, I’d be in favor of it,” he said.
Not everyone was supportive of the spending. Outgoing Selectboard member Jessica Eaton said more than once that a town’s spending on services should match residents’ ability to pay for them.
“We shouldn’t be driving people out of town just because people want more services,” she said.
Most of the general fund discussion focused on about $25,000 the Selectboard set aside for a new town manager or administrator expected to be hired in the fourth quarter of this year.
Hiring someone to manage the day-to-day activities of the town would take some pressure off the Selectboard, Rogers said. Decisions that have taken the five-member Selectboard weeks would take a manager days, he said.
Moving to a manager form of government will require a town vote, but Rogers said he would consider the town’s approval of this budget as a “green light” to begin the process. He expects the town will need to come back for a special town meeting in the summer to approve taking out more bonds to cover the approximately $4.5 million in damages incurred by the July 1 storm. During that meeting, Rogers said, the town could also consider moving to a town manager form of government.
An administrator could be hired by the Selectboard without a vote, but Rogers said the board still wanted to “get the pulse of the town” before moving forward.
“For the past three years I have donated my husband to the town,” said Megan O’Dell, who is married to Selectboard member James Dixon. “Sue (Rogers) and I call us ‘Selectboard widows’ because a lot of our family time is spent with James at the Selectboard (or) working at home on Selectboard issues.”
O’Dell noted that no one filed to run for a two-year Selectboard seat that will be vacated by Eaton.
By hiring someone to manage the town’s business, O’Dell said more people — including working women with families — would be willing and able to participate in town government.
Voters also approved raising about $26,000 to begin paying a stipend to members and the chief of the Thetford Volunteer Fire Department. The request was driven by the increasing number of hours department members are spending responding to calls and training, said Mariah Whitcomb, a member of the department’s board.
Resident Mike Kiess said he supported the stipend, but he wanted to know about the future.
“How does this fit into a long-term plan for emergency response?” he asked.
Whitcomb said she didn’t have the answer yet, but it would be something Thetford and other area towns would be discussing.
Voters also approved raising $147,000 from taxes to support the Public Works Capital Equipment Fund, $28,000 for the the Police Capital Equipment Fund, $90,090 for the Fire Capital Equipment Fund and $5,000 to seed the Treasure Island Capital Fund, which voters approved creating in a vote on Saturday.
In a non-binding vote at the end of the meeting, voters approved an article to urge their legislators to commit to at least 90 percent renewable energy for all people in Vermont by 2050.
On Tuesday, Thetford voters will head to the polls to decide on a $9 million school district operating budget. Discussion about the budget at Saturday’s annual meeting, held prior to Town Meeting, focused on increasing special education costs and needs, as well as what have become regular deficits.
Thetford Elementary Principal Kevin Petrone said he and his staff see “much more complex special education needs” than they once did. In addition to help with reading and writing, students are coming to school needing behavioral and emotional support, he said.
To address students’ needs within budget constraints, Petrone said, paraprofessionals for older students will be shared among different classrooms, which is a change from previous years when each classroom had its own.
If voters approve the school budget as proposed — which includes a reduction of one classroom teacher and one paraprofessional, as well as reducing the hours of a Spanish teacher position and a librarian — they can expect costs to rise about 2 percent and taxes to rise about 5 percent over the current year’s.
In addition to increases in special education, spending in vocational education and prekindergarten are also up. In a separate article, voters will be asked to approve taking on about $172,000 in debt to pay off a deficit from the 2016-17 school year.
Voters will also elect school and town officers on Tuesday. There are no contested races. Polls will be open at the Thetford Town Hall from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Valley News Staff Writer Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
