ROCKINGHAM-In Australian voting Tuesday, with a large turnout of more than 500 voters, Rockingham citizens delivered a clear message: The town is looking ahead, not back.
Eight candidates ran for three Selectboard seats, one of the most contested in recent town history.
Amy Howlett defeated William Crowther 391 to 73, a more than 5-to-1 margin for a three-year seat on the board.
In the race for the one-year seats, incumbent Bonnie North and Dalila Hall won handily with 315 and 251 votes, respectively.
They defeated David Barrett, Charlie Jarras, Larry White, and Deborah Wright.
Barrett, Crowther, and White made it clear that they were running on two main issues: stopping a major town project and reversing last year's merger of the town's three fire departments into one unit.
Crowther said publicly at an earlier candidates' forum and at Town Meeting that, if elected, the three would end the town project to restore the historic train depot on The Island into a functioning, commercial property in the village's historic district.
The depot restoration project is seen by town officials as a key element in future commercial and residential development for the Bellows Falls downtown district through the next decade or more.
Barrett, Crowther, and White, all former members of the now-dormant Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department (RVFD), also said they would restart the department, which was merged along with the Saxtons River department and town emergency services into the Rockingham Fire and Rescue Department (RFRD) near the end of last year.
At last year's Town Meeting, voters overwhelmingly supported consolidating the town's three fire departments into one unit.
Jarras and Wright, who have both served in many town positions in past years, received 99 and 88 votes, respectively. White received 102 votes and Barrett 79.
Voters on Tuesday also approved $11.5 million for the Rockingham town school budget (341–111).
The Bellows Falls Union High School budget of $9.2 million, was passed, 369 to 125.
The town's share of the River Valley Technical Center School District budget, $3.5 million, also passed, 412–77.
In uncontested races, voters elected:
• Paul Obuchowski, town and school moderator
• Paul Noble, town lister
• Carol Blackwood and Virginia Massucco, Rockingham Free Public Library trustees
• Jerusa Contee and Christine Demasi, Rockingham school directors
• Ben Wallace, director for the Union school district
Town budget up 8%
On Feb. 28, 100 Rockingham voters approved a $7.3 million town budget at Town Meeting, held for the second year on a Saturday afternoon, this time at the town Opera House.
The town budget is up 8% and includes equipment purchases for the town highway department and the newly consolidated RFRD. Selectboard members explained that wages, health insurance, and electricity costs accounted for most of the increase.
Voters defeated two conflicting amendments to the budget. Paul Reis proposed adding $500,000 to the budget to reimburse the village of Bellows Falls for police expenses, and another motion was made by Crowther to decrease the budget by $500,000.
There was considerable discussion about funding for the Visiting Nurses Association (VNA) and Senior Solutions.
Despite doing most of the work previously performed by the VNA, Senior Solutions is getting a much smaller appropriation. Voters decided the funding disparity will be more effectively worked out with the Selectboard at future board meetings.
Voters also passed $436,000 for the Rockingham Free Public Library, $22,000 for the Meeting House Capital Reserve, and $131,000 for maintaining town cemeteries.
School budget
The Rockingham School District Meeting approved $11.4 million on Tuesday during Australian balloting, and on the floor of Saturday's meeting, voters approved adding a $710,000 surplus from the 2025 budget to a reserve fund for future school renovations.
Rockingham School Board Chair Caitlin Deschenes-Desmond explained the budget has an increase of 2.08%, but that overall school taxes are expected to decrease by 2.85%. She said this is much less than expected statewide.
While some attendees believed the $710,000 would be a lot of money to be held in a reserve fund, Rockingham School Board member Christopher Kibbee said that it wasn't a lot of money when addressing repairs and renovations.
Noting "there are no small repairs anymore," he said that the board believes the reserve fund is the best use for the funds after lengthy discussion.
Rockingham School Board member Priscilla Lambert proposed an amendment to put the surplus into a tax relief fund. After much discussion, that amendment was defeated (74–26), and Article 3 was passed as written, 93 to 9.
Non-binding votes
Voters also strongly supported a non-binding resolution condemning the actions of ICE and calling for its dismantling.
They also approved another article condemning the news that same morning from the Trump administration that the U.S. military joined with Israeli forces in attacking Iran.
This News item by Robert F. Smith was written for The Commons.