Croydon, N.H., Moderator Willis Ballou calls on a voter to speak during Town Meeting Saturday, March 14, 2020. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com.
Croydon, N.H., Moderator Willis Ballou calls on a voter to speak during Town Meeting Saturday, March 14, 2020. (Valley News - James M. Patterson) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Credit: James M. Patterson

Articles of note: Voters at Town Meeting will be asked whether to approve a recommendation from the Selectboard to prohibit keno games and games of chance as defined in state law within town boundaries. The ban would not affect bingo at churches or other charitable organizations. Establishing a highway department capital reserve fund is also recommended by the Selectboard. At the school meeting there is an article to expand the Croydon Village School facilities with expenses to be paid with money received from grants and funds in the capital reserve trust fund; voters will also be asked to designate the village school as an open enrollment school and allow no students outside the district to attend the village school and allow no students from within the district to leave the school.

Contested races: Amie Freak and David Doremus are candidates for one three-year term on the Selectboard. Shawn Douglas and Carl Newton are candidates for a second, three-year term on the Selectboard.

Budgets and spending articles: The proposed school budget is $2.06 million, which is a 1% decrease from last year and carries a projected school tax decrease of 14%. The town budget of $846,000 is an increase of $65,000, or 8%, from the budget approved last year. There is an additional $320,000 in appropriations among the 24 town warrant articles including adding $50,000 each to the road paving, gravel road repairs and town vehicles capital reserve funds and hiring a per diem code enforcement officer for $5,000 to enforce zoning ordinances.

When and where to vote: Voting for the election of school district officers is Tuesday, March 10, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Croydon Town Hall. The in-person town meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m., Saturday, March 14 at the Croydon Volunteer Fire Department. The in-person school meeting is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. on March 14 at the fire department.

Patrick O'Grady covers Claremont and Newport for the Valley News. He can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com