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APRIL 4, 2024
WILLISTON’S NEWSPAPER SINCE 1985
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Selectboard trims budget proposal School budget revote set for April 16; town in May BY JASON STARR Observer staff The Williston Selectboard is prepared to shave $335,000 from the $15.3 million budget that a majority of voters rejected at Town Meeting Day, and present a new proposal for voter consideration in May. The board on Tuesday settled on that reduction amount after hearing pleas from the town’s police and fire chiefs to retain all public safety personnel and equipment. Williston’s round-the-clock police, fire and EMS services account for roughly half of the town’s budget, according to Town Manager Erik Wells. The selectboard plans to leave public safety expenses untouched in its new proposal and instead find the $335,000 in reductions from smaller items across the town’s eight primary departments. The board plans to pinpoint cuts in upcoming weekly meetings at Town Hall. One cut that board members already seem open to is a new human resources director position, an expense that was part of the failed Town Meeting Day budget. “While I think we need an HR director, I think this is not the year to add that,” board member Jeanne Jensen said. The board also agreed Tuesday to infuse the budget with $100,000 from the town’s re-
serve fund, which has built up to $3.6 million in prior year budget surpluses. Adding the $100,000 reduces the amount of budget cuts needed. “It is a rainy day fund for the town, and I’d say this is a stormy situation,” Wells said. The new proposal would come in at $14.9 million for the upcoming fiscal year, an increase of $940,641 (6.7 percent) over the current fiscal year. That would result in an estimated increase in property taxes of about $20 per $100,000 of assessed property value, or about $60 on the annual property tax bill of a median-priced ($300,000) Williston home. That represents a 6 percent tax rate increase over the current fiscal year, compared to the 11.5 percent tax rate increase that was associated with the defeated Town Meeting Day budget. The selectboard is eyeing May 7 or May 14 as possible budget revote dates. Meanwhile, voters in Williston, Hinesburg, Charlotte, St. George and Shelburne are called to the polls Tuesday, April 16 to consider a revised Champlain Valley School District budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Voters in the five-town district defeated the $106 million proposal at Town Meeting Day in March. The Champlain Valley School Board has approved a revised budget of $102 million. Voting on the new proposal will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 16 at the National Guard Armory next to Town Hall on Williston Road.
Reducing the budget proposal by $4 million will require the reduction of 42 positions throughout the district, including 16 teaching positions, nine administrative positions and 17 support staff positions that were created with federal pandemic recovery grants. It also includes scaling back on school maintenance projects. The cuts were distributed across the district’s six schools and central offices, with $612,000 coming from Williston’s two schools. Still, the budget carries a roughly $6 million (5.8 percent) increase in spending over the current fiscal year. School administrators attribute the increase to a 4.75 percent increase in teacher pay, a 6 percent increase in support staff pay, a 16 percent increase in staff health insurance costs and general inflation. School administrators estimate that the new budget will result in a property tax rate increase of 14 percent for Williston property owners, down from the roughly 20 percent increase associated with the failed budget. The tax increase would amount to $241 for every $100,000 of assessed property value, or a $723 increase on the median priced home ($300,000) in Williston. The school district will hold an informational meeting the night before the election. The meeting will be held at CVU starting at 5 p.m. Monday, April 15.
Snuggle bunny Acacia Deull-Paquet (2) poses with the Easter Bunny and helper, Sherry Pidgeon, at the parade and egg hunt on Saturday morning sponsored by the WillistonRichmond Rotary Club. See more photos on page 3. OBSERVER PHOTO BY AL FREY
What’s on tap for Tapper? County forester to move on for book and business BY JASON STARR Observer staff
Ethan Tapper
Ethan Tapper won’t just be Chittenden County’s forester anymore. With a book coming out and a private consulting business launched, the Bolton resident
is ready to broaden his purview and increase his impact. “I always ask myself, how can I have the most positive impact on forests and conservation,” he said. For the last eight years, the answer to that question has been to work for the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources in the Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation as the Chittenden County Forester. But Tapper plans to step down June 1 to promote his newly penned book “How to Love a Forest” and
start a conservation consultancy called Bear Island Forestry. “This is really the next step for me in my conservation career to be even more of a presence and have even more of a platform with respect to forests and taking care of them,” Tapper said. Readers of the Observer may know Tapper from his monthly columns that often see TAPPER page 7
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