Washington voters in a ‘yes’ mood
Toolbox
TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: March 3, 2010
WASHINGTON - Disabled veterans, school directors and Selectboard members were all Town Meeting Day winners here.
Both local boards received approval for their respective budgets, and voters agreed to expand the property tax exemption for qualifying veterans to $40,000 of assessed property value, from $10,000.
Despite pre-town meeting projections of a 20-cent tax rate hike - 19 of it tied to approval of the $1.9 million school budget - Town Clerk Carol Davis said voters approved that spending plan as proposed. She said they also passed the $583,965 municipal budget as proposed.
Although voters approved annual appropriations for the fire department and FAST squad, as well as the Calef Memorial Library and 15 organizations that provide a range of services to town residents, they didn’t say “yes” to everything Tuesday.
A school board proposal to study the possibility of eliminating the popular practice of school choice for high school students was defeated, as was a request to authorize the Selectboard to reclassify certain town roads. The school board had floated the idea of designating a single high school in hopes of corralling the exploding cost of high school tuition. Those costs account for nearly $625,000 this year, or about one-third of the local school budget.
There were no contested races.
5