Camryn Brauns and Jacob Miller-Arsenault reported this story on assignment from The Citizen. The Community News Service is a program in which University of Vermont students work with professional editors to provide content for local news outlets at no cost.
Hinesburg voters waved to their friends and neighbors as they headed in and out of town hall on Town Meeting Day, some grabbing a handful of donut holes after casting their ballots on significant increases in town and school budgets.
A proposed $5.4 million town budget, up more than 13% from a year ago, caused concern among some residents. Sarah Schmidt, 57, and Joe Bobee, a 65-year-old retiree, came together to vote down the budget. “They don’t spend responsibly,” Schmidt said. “It’s hard to get everybody on the same page as far as spending goes. Everyone has different priorities.”
Kristie Brown, 49, a convenience store supervisor, said she also came to vote to curb climbing property taxes. “I have a lot of land,” said Brown, who has lived in Hinesburg for 39 years. “I pay enough for taxes.”
John Clifford, who has lived in Hinesburg for 10 years, said his biggest concern going into the polls was the proposed Champlain Valley School District budget of $105.8 million, which would contribute to a boost in property tax rates by 20%. He said he would like to know more about students’ state testing performance and what taxpayers are getting for their money in terms of children’s education.
“If we get a 20% tax increase, that’s money coming out of our pockets,” Clifford said.
Carol Smith, 55, a Colchester Middle School teacher, has lived in Hinesburg for 30 years and voted to approve the school budget. “We need to maintain programming and staff,” she said of local schools.
Nonetheless, Smith would like to see changes in the way Vermont handles education funding to reduce the cost of living in the state. “We need to come up with new ways to reduce what feels like a continued increase in property taxes.”
Town Meeting Day allows local residents to address such issues directly, Smith continued. “Townspeople’s voices need to be heard, and all voices need to be heard in a democratic way.”
Brennan Neill moved to Hinesburg three years ago and said he would like to see more funding for police and fire departments and a decrease in school funding, even though his daughter attends Champlain Valley Union High School.
Christian Plaud, 29, said he voted in favor of both the town and school budget. “It is important to get what everyone needs for the school budget,” he said. He found it “interesting,” he said, that some people have complained about the police budget but not proposed fire department funding, which was about 10% less than the police budget on the ballot.
His wife, Haley Plaud, a 30-year-old atmospheric scientist, voted to approve the town budget, as well, and agreed with the need to more adequately support local police. “They are doing a lot of square miles,” said Plaud, who has lived in Vermont for 10 years and Hinesburg for five.
Plaud also supported a proposal to expand the highway department. In December, when floods poured into local basements, highway workers took care of it, even coming in on Christmas Day, Plaud noted. “They deserve another staffer,” she said.