VERSHIRE — Voters rejected the general fund and highway budgets in ballot voting at a rescheduled Town Meeting Saturday.
Vershire voters rejected the $481,000 general fund budget, 97-73, and the $764,000 highway budget, 100-71.
Both proposed budgets represented substantial increases over last year, with the general fund budget up almost 10% and the highway budget up 32%.
Voters also did not pass three other spending articles in voting on Saturday. They rejected a $54,000 new law enforcement contract, 137-33, in ballot voting.
During the floor meeting, voters also rejected a $20,000 appropriation to build a sand and salt shed and indefinitely postponed $50,000 toward future renovations of the town office building.
All other floor articles passed and voters approved an $84,500 appropriation for Vershire Fire and Rescue, 123-49, at the polls.
Of the town’s 590 registered voters, 172, or 29%, cast Australian ballots and 81, or about 14%, attended the floor meeting last Saturday.
Vershire’s Town Meeting was originally scheduled for March 3, but had been postponed because of delays in printing the town report.
The Selectboard plans to discuss next steps and hopefully set a date for a special meeting to reconsider the general fund and highway budgets at a regular meeting next week, Town Clerk Chelsea Parker said Wednesday. The board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Town Center building.
She expects the board will “go back to the drawing board” to come up with new budget figures and hopes that the Special Town Meeting will be in May.
At an informational meeting on April 9, some residents expressed concern about the accuracy of the town budgets and outstanding questions such as why no money was allocated for certain line items this year or what portion of employee costs would go towards benefits, according to a recording of the meeting.
As for the law enforcement contract, Parker said ahead of Town Meeting some residents had expressed interest in contracting with one of Vermont’s sheriff’s departments to have a stronger law enforcement presence in the town that does not have its own police force and relies on Vermont State Police for law enforcement.
But, with the town voting down the $54,000 appropriation, the issue won’t be reconsidered in the near future, Parker said.
The Selectboard contended during the informational meeting that this year’s budget process had been complicated by the departure of former longtime Town Clerk and Treasurer Gene Craft who became Fairlee town administrator on March 2.
Vershire has a special town meeting scheduled for April 25 to authorize the Selectboard to appoint a new town treasurer and, separately, to decide whether that person could live outside of Vershire. That meeting will be at 8 a.m. at the Town Center building.
