Article of note: The three-member Select Board wants a pay raise. The board is asking voters to approve increasing each member’s stipend from $2,000 to $2,500 a year. The town’s Budget Committee supports the increase.
Contested races: Planning Board, three-year term; Selectboard, three-year term; Supervisor of Checklist, six-year term.
Budgets and spending articles: The proposed operating budget of $1,192,142 is up 2.9% from last year. Voters will also be asked to approve, among other warrant articles, spending $50,000 to pave town roads and putting $35,000 in the previously established Fire Apparatus Capital Reserve Fund. Also on the ballot is a request to spend $3,000 for the restoration of the town’s historical records. The Select Board and Budget Committee both oppose the warrant article.
When, where and how to vote: Australian ballot voting on elected officials and warrant articles will take place on Tuesday, March 8, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Grafton/Fire Ambulance Station, 5 Library Road.
— Jim Kenyon