WINDSOR — Windsor and West Windsor residents easily approved a $11.6 million school budget for the new Mount Ascutney School District on a 474-182 vote in Town Meeting Day voting on Tuesday.
In municipal voting in Windsor, former state Rep. Paul Belaski and James Reed were elected to the Selectboard, and residents easily passed all appropriations, including a $5.14 million municipal budget.
In unofficial results, Belaski, who was defeated in a primary last September for his seat in the Vermont House, won a two-year seat on the Selectboard over Kelly Blue, 271-187, and Reed received 204 votes for a three-year seat, defeating former Selectboard member Clayton Paronto, who received 162 votes, and Eric Saltonstall, who got 89.
The special agency appropriations on Tuesday’s Windsor ballot were all approved by wide margins, including $86,680 for the library and $5,000 for Windsor On Air.
The closest approval, 267-214, was a request to allow the town to bond up to $1 million for the purpose of “acquiring, removing and/or cleaning up blighted properties.”
Windsor Town Manager Tom Marsh said earlier the town would not borrow the money unless circumstances regarding a particular property required action.
The approved budget represents a 3 percent increase from the current year and, along with the $160,000 in special agency appropriations, is projected to add about 6 cents to the municipal tax rate in Windsor, bringing it to $1.58 per $100 of assessed property value, Marsh said.
Salaries and wages for police and fire personnel, an increase in capital spending of $50,000, and higher debt service were the main factors for the budget increase, Marsh said.
