DUMMERSTON-It was standing room only at Dummerston Town Meeting on Tuesday morning as more than 100 people crammed into the Dummerston School gym for the opening of the 2026 Town Meeting.
Some were elders who had participated in many of these meetings over the years. Some were newer members of the community, many of them young families with small children.
According to Dummerston School Principal Julianne Eagan, school enrollment is increasing.
Apart from spending almost four hours (with a 45-minute break for lunch served by Evening Star Grange) hammering out a new municipal budget, in a non-binding vote Dummerston also voted to express opposition to the continuation of ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in its current form and to ask Congress to dismantle it.
They also voted to condemn "the unprovoked attack and the beginning of an illegal and immoral was against Iran" and urged Congress to bring the military safely home.
The first item on the agenda was a vote to keep Cindy Jerome as town moderator for her 15th and final year despite her move to Brattleboro.
According to Jerome, by statute the moderator does not have to live in the town she moderates.
The vote to keep her was unanimous, with Jerome drawing cheers, applause, and at least one wolf howl.
"She's done a superb job," said Selectboard Chair Todd Davidson.
"It's been a joy and a pleasure," Jerome said before getting down to business. She began the meeting by reading the names of more than 25 Dummerstonians who have died during the year.
Town Meetings are, in general, budget meetings, and this year the total municipal amount to be raised by taxes for the coming year is $1,553,869. It breaks down this way:
• For the General Fund: $612,624.
• For the Highway Fund: $567,240.
• For the Capital Fund: $245,000.
• For the Highway Structures Fund: $74,000.
• For the Highway Blasting and Crushing Fund: $30,005.
• For the Putney Foodshelf: $5,000 ($2,000 more than in the warrant).
This all amounts to an annual town budget increase of 13.88% - but that figure needs context.
"That increase is the municipal tax side of your property tax bill only," said Davidson. "The municipal side is only 20% of the overall property tax bill. Education makes up the other 80%. The net effect on a Dummerston property tax bill is an increase of 2.8%."
Legislative update
Two politicians visited Dummerston Town Meeting this year. The first, state Rep. Mike Mrowicki, D-Putney, now serving his 20th year in the state Legislature, glowed as he cheered Vermonters at the Winter Olympics.
"Vermont won more medals than China," he said.
Mrowicki also talked about the ways in which Vermont is being hurt by the federal government. For one thing, tariffs against Canada are hurting Vermont because Canadians no longer want to visit the United States. (VermontBiz has reported that border crossings from Canada to Vermont declined 37% to 39% between 2024 and 2025.)
Then, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is punishing Vermont, he said, by withholding money the state still needs to rebuild after last year's floods.
Mrowicki talked about how chilling it was to visit ICE headquarters as an escort to an immigrant.
"We all want secure borders," Mrowicki said to applause. "But what we're seeing right now is hordes of armed men grabbing Americans, even killing Americans. This is not something we can tolerate. I can't think of anything less American. Vermonters should stand up, show up. Our voices are being heard. Our numbers are being noted."
On the state level, Mrowicki said, there is some good news.
The Vermont Housing Improvement Program (VHIP), which provided funds to add small "grandmother" apartments to already-existing homes, had added 1,500 apartments to the housing stock in Vermont, he said.
And the Legislature has added 1,300 child care slots in Vermont and is paying workers more in an attempt to attract young people to Vermont. Those measures got a round of unexpected applause.
Turning to education, Mrowicki said he would not support the program being pushed by Gov. Phil Scott to consolidate Vermont's 119 school districts into five.
"I will not vote for a bill that doesn't protect our schools like Dummerston and do it in an affordable manner," Mrwoicki said.
Resident Jody Normandeau agreed. "I'm against consolidation," she said. "The best thing right now is that we need our schools."
Later, state Sen. Nader Hashim, D-Windham, also spoke against school district consolidation.
"We are expected to vote on a map with a substantially smaller number of districts, and Scott has threatened to veto the budget unless we do," Hashim said.
"Cost savings don't come from shrinking districts, but Scott is adamant. The uncertainty causes a lot of doubt, and we're hearing stories of teachers interviewing for positions who have withdrawn because of the uncertainty."
Other business
• Community Center, library merge governance: Dummerstonians voted to merge the Community Center with the Lydia Taft Pratt library under one board.
The vote approves the name change to the Dummerston Community Center and Library.
Voters put $12,000 toward hiring a children's librarian.
• Less salt on the roads: Meeting participants learned that East-West Road and Middle Road are experiencing accidents when icy is because salt is extremely hard to find right now.
Another road maintenance factoid: When it comes to sanding dirt roads, larger pebbles not only provide more support in mud season, they also cost less to crush.
• Voters take interest in interest: At the request of several voters, the Selectboard agreed to examine where it keeps its large funds and make sure they are earning a sufficient amount of interest in the banks.
• 'You have my heartfelt thanks': Read Miller of Dwight Miller Orchards, which suffered from a fire in August that destroyed its entire processing and storage facility, thanked the town for its financial and emotional support.
"You have my heartfelt thanks," Miller said to applause. "I love being part of this community."
• Tax exemptions: The voters also agreed to allow the Dummerston Grange and Green Mountain Camp to have tax exempt status.
• And … scene: Then, at 2:20 p.m., after another round of applause for Jerome, town meeting adjourned for another year.
This News item by Joyce Marcel was written for The Commons.