BRATTLEBORO-Voters on April 11 passed a $27 million budget, agreeing to pay for trash removal and fund human services after lengthy discussion, procedural clarification, and multiple amendments.
For the first time since 1960, deliberations were not limited to 150 elected representatives. With all registered voters eligible to vote directly, nearly 300 — almost 4% of the town’s electorate — turned out to the meeting at Brattleboro Union High School at some point to do so.
Voters had agreed in March to discontinue Representational Town Meeting (RTM), which had limited participation to 150 people elected to represent the town’s 9,072 registered voters.
The 1,457–841 vote last month in favor of moving to the open Town Meeting, combined with a 1,362–945 to move to Australian ballot voting. That contradiction left the town with an open meeting as the sole option for this year.
In May, the Charter Revision Commission will make final updates and offer a proposal on how future balloting and meetings will be conducted. Such changes will need to be approved by the state Legislature, a multi-year process.
FY27 budget debated
Selectboard Chair Oscar Heller, a member of the RTM Finance Committee that was wiped out of existence with RTM itself, opened the budget discussion, acknowledging that while the proposed 6.3% increase to this year — before human services money was added on Town Meeting floor — was high and the budget “imperfect,” he hoped it would pass.
“The 10,000-foot view is that it funds the various departments and functions of the town that we all rely on,” Heller said. “We went through a long process of trying to design a budget that would be as functional for Brattleboro as possible. This is an imperfect document, this budget.”
Saying the town isn’t spending enough on sidewalks and roads and doesn’t pay for an assistant town manager, Heller also acknowledged that at the same time, “the number’s too high; the tax increase is too high.”
“What I hope that we’ve done over the past five months is create an adequate compromise,” he said. “I know that ‘adequate compromise’ is not much of a battle cry, and yet, I really do think that in some ways, this budget is an achievement and the product of a great deal of hard work.”
Heller said it took months of regular work, of just understanding and designing options and making choices.”
“It’s also the product of a great deal of spirited, possibly even heated, Selectboard debate,” he continued. “I think every single member of the previous board was on the losing side of a vote about the budget that they really wanted to go the other way. We tried to make hard decisions.”
It was noted that, since 2018, the budget has increased $10 million, yet road repairs are lagging, the replacement cost for the town pool has been pegged at about $6.5 million, replacing the public works garage would be an additional $15 million, and the Municipal Center and the fire station elevator also need major repairs.
Suggestions included finding efficiencies, such as in software decisions, and to defer non-essential vehicle buys.
Ultimately, voters authorized spending up to $27,040,801 with $20,864,686 from property taxes, but not before an amendment to reduce the budget to $26 million was defeated.
Trash stays at the curb
The budget includes a 14-month contract with Rutland-based Casella Waste Systems for trash and recycling, costing just over $1 million, and a new municipal compost program, costing more than $220,000.
It was noted that all properties are taxed for solid waste, but only residential properties under five units — 56% — are eligible for the service.
Arguments against eliminating municipal collection included the high cost of private pickup — about $50 per month — and the risk of illegal dumping.
A straw poll showed the majority opposed striking trash collection from the budget. The program will remain in place for the next 14 months, after which a new contract or plan will be needed.
Funding human services draws longest discussion
The Selectboard’s proposed budget allocated $1 for human services.
Tom Miner, chair of the former RTM Human Services Review Committee, told the group that the panel reviewed 36 applications totaling about $525,000 and recommended allocating approximately $482,665 to 33 organizations, based on last year’s RTM directive to spend 2% of the preceding year’s budget. That directive, however, is not perennially binding.
An alternative proposal was made to reduce the funding to a “compromise” of $250,000 to re-examine grant criteria.
Gemma Seymour proposed spending $482,665 for social services, stating that it would be a moral obligation and that this funding effectively serves to defray costs for other town departments.
Ken Fay also supported full funding, linking it to the town charter’s safety tenet, and Spoon Agave cited a moral duty to care for those less fortunate.
Aaron Smith opposed mandatory tax funding, arguing it increases the cost of living and argued that the human service organizations that would receive the municipal funding should instead fundraise independently.
Thus ensued a series of votes to amend the budget. Seymour’s amendment to fund $482,665 was adopted by a vote of 144-101. Arthur Davis then moved to amend the funding to $250,000, which passed by a paper ballot vote of 133-125.
Next, Leland Wilson proposed another amendment, to increase funding from $250,000 to $350,000, arguing the reduction would be too severe. Supporters argued that preventative human services save money on emergency care, are essential to the town’s crisis response, and provide crucial unrestricted funds that state and federal grants don’t cover.
Opponents argued that $250,000 was generous, that citizens could donate privately, and that the town could not afford more.
Voters approved the amendment to raise the funding to $350,000 by a 145-113 paper ballot.
Yet another amendment by Timothy Belknap to reduce the amount to $300,000 was defeated by a voice vote.
The meeting ultimately voted to approve spending $350,000 for human services programs.
In response to concerns about yearly funding volatility, Moderator David Gartenstein said the Charter Revision Commission is reviewing the process.
For FY28, the Selectboard will set an initial line item sum for human services, which Town Meeting can then amend, aiming to avoid future procedural conflicts.
Tax exemptions
Voters authorized raising and appropriating $131,698.86 through special assessments on property within the Mountain Home Special Benefit Assessment Tax District.
They also approved $80,000 through special assessments on commercial properties within the Downtown Improvement District for the Downtown Brattleboro Alliance. That money supports programs such as Gallery Walk and the downtown flower program.
Opponents argued against tax exemptions not required by law, noting about $20 million in property goes untaxed, shifting the burden to other taxpayers. It was confirmed that organizations can be exempt from municipal taxes and still apply for human service grants.
A five-year municipal tax exemption for the Brattleboro American Legion Post 5 Little League field on South Main Street — a renewal of an exemption that’s existed since the 1950s and is valued at $1,568 in the current fiscal year — was adopted after an amendment to change the exemption to one year was defeated.
A five-year municipal tax exemption for the nonprofit Family Garden child care center passed. That exemption is valued at $4,147.
Voters also approved a five-year municipal tax exemption of $26,315 for the New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA). Representatives of the circus school stated the exemption would fund a 3% staff cost-of-living increase amid declining federal and state funding and said the organization brings 4,000 people to town annually.
Listers had previously rejected NECCA’s exemption because it did not meet state standards.
An amendment to halve the exemption amount was defeated, 92–84, to what it had been last year. An amendment to reduce the term to one year to provide stability was also defeated.
Appointments and resolutions made
In other matters:
• Gemma Seymour and Gary Stroud were elected to the Capital Review Board for one-year terms, although it was noted the board is inactive and its elimination has been recommended.
• The town also voted to establish a seven-member Advisory Budget Committee to replace the defunct RTM Finance Committee. The Selectboard is to appoint its initial members, with members to be elected at the ballot box in 2027.
• Margaret Atkinson, Jennifer Rowe, Stephanie Swindle, Felicity Ratté, and Robert Ferrante were elected or ratified as trustees for Brooks Memorial Library.
• Annual Town Meeting for non-ballot business will be moved to the Sunday preceding the first Tuesday in March due to logistical challenges on other days. This is subject to the Charter Commission’s final review and recommendation.
• Hilary Francis was appointed town clerk and Leslie Smith, town treasurer, for one-year terms.
• Fisher & Fisher Law Services, PC, was appointed to serve the town for the next year.
• Voters also passed a non-binding resolution calling for an independent consultant to analyze town ambulance transport service finances. Supporters cited a need for financial clarity, while Fire Chief Jay Symonds noted that transport revenue largely offsets costs.
• The town recognized several retiring employees and departing elected officials, including Parking Enforcement Officer Carol Coulombe, Fire Captain Dave Emery, Fire Alarm Superintendent Joseph Newton, Selectboard Chair Elizabeth McLoughlin, Police Chief Norma Hardy, Brooks Memorial Library Director Starr LaTronica, and state Rep. Mollie Burke [story this issue].
Voters interrupted Rep. Emilie Kornheiser’s accolades for LaTronica with a standing ovation for the librarian.
“That’s just about all I can say — ‘Wow.’” LaTronica said, taking the microphone and thanking staff, trustees, and the community for their work in building Brooks Memorial Library into “an exemplary place.”
“We are so lucky. There’s no better place to be a librarian,” she said.
Kornheiser said that a retirement party will celebrate the “sparkly, galactic electricity that is Starr.”
Support for dismantling ICE, Defend the Guard Act
Voters unanimously approved a non-binding resolution submitted by Rachel Distler, a member of Brattleboro Indivisible, expressing opposition to the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “in its current form,” calling on federal elected officials to “create a law dismantling ICE” and institute full congressional oversight hearings into the agency’s conduct, and to call on the Vermont Legislature to create laws that permit civil actions in state courts to “hold federal agents accountable for violations of legal or constitutional limits.”
A non-binding referendum calling on federal and state representatives to pursue reforms and oversight, the Vermont Defend the Guard Act (H.355), also passed unanimously.
Robert Oeser, an Action Corps Vermont volunteer, proposed the resolution to urge the Legislature to enact the bill, which has not yet moved through the House Committee on Government Operations and Military Affairs.
Selectboard member Isaac Evans-Frantz, who also serves as a director of Action Corps, said at a Vermont State House press event last month, after confirmation that the Vermont Air National Guard took part in attacks on both Venezuela and Iran this year, “The Vermont National Guard is needed here at home to fight fires here, not be starting fires halfway around the world.”
This News item by Virginia Ray was written for The Commons.