MONTPELIER — It was a clean sweep for all budgets and articles on Town Meeting Day in the Capital City.
In the only contested race, in District 3, to replace Councilor Glen Coburn Hutcheson, who stepped down after one two-year term, Jay Ericson triumphed with 518 votes, followed by Gene Leon with 210 votes and Bruce Sargent with 189 votes.
“I’m incredibly grateful to the voters in District 3 and the city of Montpelier for their vote of confidence in me,” Ericson said. “I’m also very appreciative of Gene and Bruce for being willing to step up to best represent our district in the city and I’m excited to get to work with the rest of the council.”
City Clerk John Odum described the day as “very busy” and said voter turnout had been high.
“Until (Monday), based on early voting, we had every reason to believe that it would be slightly bigger than average turnout for a town meeting,” Odum said. “Starting (Monday), we got hammered with early voting, and (with voting) today.”
Re-elected were Mayor Anne Watson, Councilor Conor Casey (District 2) and Councilor Dona Bate (District 3). Councilor Dan Richardson was elected to fill out the second year of former Councilor Ashley Hill, who stepped down last year for personal reasons.
During the lunch hour, Mayor Anne Watson was sitting out in bright sunshine, chatting with voters outside City Hall.
“I’ve had multiple conversations about climate change and lots of people with questions about ballot items... what does the school board treasurer do, that kind of thing,” Watson said. “Otherwise, it’s been a sort of slow and steady trickle of folks. It doesn’t seem like a huge turnout, but I’ve no complaints about being out here.”
Voters approved 2,596 –621 the fiscal year 2020-21 municipal budget of $9.933 million, an increase of $467,648 or 4.9% on the current year. Most of the increase was due to a 25% in health care costs for city employees this year. Ballot items added an additional $397,471, an increase of $47,000 or 13.4%. Combined budget and ballot items will require a 5.3-cent (4.7%) increase in the property tax rate.
The Montpelier-Roxbury Public Schools District budget of $25.3 million, an increase of 4.76%, passed 2,454-863.
The biggest budget increases were salaries and a 12.9% increase in health reimbursement arrangements for faculty and staff and higher technical education costs.
Together, the district said it expected salary increases currently being negotiated and health care costs would add about $720,000 to next year’s budget.
On the plus side, the school district is projecting that enrollment will continue to rise, to 1,125 students next year, which would help offset any education property tax rate increase. In future years, costs will also fall as Roxbury students transition to Montpelier schools.
A 4-cent state tax relief incentive for merged school districts also will help to lower the overall increase for the district. Special education funding and transportation aid are also expected to help lower the tax rate.
The district added $240,000 of general fund balance to help offset the property tax increase.
Based on the projections, the district expects equalized per pupil spending to be about $16,967 next year.
School Board chairman Jim Murphy was re-elected to a three-year term. Aniket Kulkarni and Jill Remick were also elected to three-year seats, replacing Michele Braun and Tina Muncy, who stepped down. Mara Iverson was elected to fill out the remaining year of Rebecca Bowen, who stepped down last year.
stephen.mills @timesargus.com
