Amid concerns about the cost of living, Vermonters from northwestern Alburgh to southeastern Vernon used Town Meeting voting to express their opinions on everything from local spending to state universal health care to the national and global actions of President Donald Trump.
The state’s 247 municipalities, gathering as early as Saturday morning to as late as Tuesday night, were on their way to approving a majority of annual operating budgets in a year where the 29 largest cities and towns (those with at least 5,000 people) had proactively lowered their capital project requests by 84%.
Although most communities hadn’t added much to local government spending, several requested more money for public safety.
Vermont’s largest city of Burlington voted on increasing its police and fire tax by 5 cents for every $100 of assessed value of local property to add two firefighters and purchase six new vehicles, with results expected Tuesday night.
Bradford, population 2,790, approved general and highway budgets but rejected a call for $250,000 to raise its police officer count from two to four.
In local matters, John McClaughry won reelection as Town Meeting moderator in Kirby, population 575, for his 60th consecutive time. The 88-year-old received a round of applause and a Congressional Record statement from Vermont U.S. Sen. Peter Welch.
“John represents much of what makes Vermont’s political culture unique: a devotion to localism; a belief in strong Vermont values; and a ‘live and let live’ approach to governing,” the statement read in part.
McClaughry now has served longer than the late Waltham Moderator Herbert Day, who led meetings in his town in the 58 years between 1896 and 1954.
Non-binding advisory articles
At least eight communities — Brandon, Bristol, Cornwall, Middlebury, Putney, Ripton, Salisbury and Weybridge — considered a non-binding advisory article on whether to ask the Vermont Legislature to vote this session on House bill 433, which would launch the “incremental implementation” of a state universal health care plan.
The item passed in Cornwall on Saturday and in Bristol and Weybridge on Monday, according to petition organizer Jack Mayer.
Royalton, for its part, was deciding whether to impose a five-year moratorium on the local siting and construction of data centers for artificial intelligence or cryptocurrency, even though none have been proposed.
As for larger interests, Westminster approved a citizen-requested advisory item on Saturday for the removal of President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance “for crimes against the United States Constitution.”
The vote was 121-6, with no debate.
“Someone can pass that on to the administration,” Westminster Moderator David Major said.
Similarly, Montgomery voted 55-18 on Tuesday to call for the state’s congressional delegation to push to impeach Trump, according to petition organizer Barry Kade.
East Montpelier, Huntington, Putney and Newfane considered their own nonbinding resolutions against the Trump administration and its actions.
An “apartheid-free community” pledge debated by almost a dozen municipalities in the past was weighed this year by several communities, including Montpelier, which rejected it last March by a 1,181-887 margin.
Bristol narrowly approved it Monday as a last-minute, last-on-the-agenda item.
Big-dollar bonds, local option taxes
For most Vermonters, ballots focused on spending. In the biggest single bond proposal statewide, the Mountain Views School District towns of Bridgewater, Barnard, Plymouth, Killington, Reading, Pomfret and Woodstock waited Tuesday for the results of a vote on a revised plan for a new $112 million Woodstock Union High and Middle School after rejecting the project in 2024.
More than a dozen other communities sought at least $1 million for infrastructure improvements above and beyond regular spending.
To raise revenue, almost 20 municipalities asked to join the nearly 40 cities and towns now piggybacking on state charges with their own 1% local option taxes on rooms, meals, alcohol and sales.
Voters considered some combination of new or expanded 1% taxes in Bolton, Bristol, Castleton, Chester, Fair Haven, Hardwick, Londonderry, Mendon, Milton, Morristown, Peru, Pittsfield, Pomfret, Roxbury, Swanton, Vergennes, Waitsfield, Westmore and West Windsor, according to a VTDigger survey.
Of communities reporting results, Westmore adopted its tax.
Stowe, for its part, weighed whether to increase its figure to 2% — a move that, unlike other communities’ 1% charge, would require a local charter amendment and state legislative approval.
Local leadership
Of the eight Vermont municipalities with mayors, five are holding elections for the office this year.
In Rutland City, the recent surprise resignation of Mayor Mike Doenges halfway through his two-year term has sparked a write-in election, with results expected Tuesday around 9 p.m., according to officials there.
Other communities didn’t have to wait for results. In Montpelier, financial advisor Marc Gwinn ran unopposed for a two-year term to replace the outgoing Mayor Jack McCullough. In St. Albans City, teacher Trudy Cioffi ran unopposed for a two-year term to replace the outgoing Mayor Tim Smith. And in Winooski, interim Mayor Thomas Renner ran unopposed for the one-year unexpired term of Kristine Lott, who stepped down last September upon expecting her first child.
(Barre City Mayor Thom Lauzon’s two-year term extends until municipal voting there May 12.)
Brattleboro — the only community in the state to elect resident representatives for Town Meeting — voted on whether to open its gathering to all or move to making decisions by ballot, with results expected Tuesday night.
Several communities considered whether to move from voting en masse at Town Meetings to all day at polling places.
In Benson, residents approved moving to a ballot for budget articles and all other public questions.
In Charlotte, residents approved moving to a ballot for budget articles but rejected it for all other public questions.
And in Lincoln, residents voted to retain Town Meeting as they tested out remote control-like electronic voting devices with “yes” and “no” buttons, and collective results projected on a screen.
“As far as I know, we might be the first town in Vermont to be using this,” Lincoln Town Clerk Sally Ober said. “We were all quite surprised at how incredibly well it went, considering it was new to everyone.”
The electronics turned a normal 30-minute paper ballot into a 30-second push-button process, Ober said, “although the meeting still went five hours.”
While most Vermont communities vote on local government matters on or around the traditional first Tuesday in March, several have different schedules.
Barre City and Barre Town cast school ballots on Tuesday but wait on municipal questions until May 12.
The city of Essex Junction, as per custom and charter, will decide local issues on April 14.
And Brattleboro chose municipal leaders on Tuesday but will consider a proposed annual budget at a Representative Town Meeting currently set for March 21.
This story will be updated.
