The
vast majority of local school budgets were approved on Town Meeting Day. Officials
say voters supported the budgets because school boards did a good job in explaining the need to increase spending this year.
Tropical Storm Irene devastation lingers in many of the Vermont communities it overwhelmed more than six months ago, and it influenced voters’ decisions this week.
Voters from four
southern Vermont towns have voted to disband their separate school
boards and form the state’s first Regional Education District, or RED.
Montpelier voters have rejected the
idea of implementing a local tax on rooms, meals and sales. It appears voters followed the lead of the Capital City’s business community, which campaigned heavily
against the local option taxes.
The voters in Hartford opened their wallets last night, and went into debt
to replace a bridge and a library destroyed by Tropical Storm Irene. They
also approved a $4 million school bond.
Following Tropical Storm Irene, town budgets have been complicated by uncertainty over FEMA
reimbursements and the costs of future repairs. But in some of those
hard-hit communities, the mood on Town Meeting Day seemed buoyant.