Community notes
Titles, seven
What’s going on around Hinesburg, Charlotte
CVU won a slew of state titles in 2022
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January 5, 2023
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Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
thecitizenvt.com
Charlotte residents urge board to tackle speeding
Year in pictures
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
With budget season in full swing, the Charlotte Selectboard is feeling the pressure from residents to make speed-reduction solutions a top priority after the issue boiled over at the Dec. 27 selectboard meeting. For some residents, excessive speeding has remained a consistent problem in Charlotte for more than 30 years. Until now, not much significant action by the town has been taken beyond approving
speed and traffic-calming studies. While good in theory, residents have said these studies provide little help to ensure safety in town. Although amicable and cooperative some residents expressed a sense of urgency at the most recent board meeting. The neighborhood group that has spearheaded nearly all the efforts for change presented a preliminary budget proposal for the costs of implementing recommendations from a recent traffic See SPEEDING on page 4
Bus agency poised to bring back fares Transit line needs to stabilize funding COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN/FILE PHOTO
Top: A fall maple explodes with color. Above: A sign in front of Hinesburg’s town hall remind voters of a vote on the police budget. More photos follow on page 8
Bus fares for Green Mountain Transit lines may return this year, potentially ending a pandemic precaution and providing a revenue source to an agency that for years has been searching for alternative ways to fund its operations more equitably. As part of the transit agency’s fiscal year 2024 budget, fares would be restarted on all the bus lines throughout the county. Green Mountain Transit will hold a public meeting Jan. 10 and will consider approving the final budget Jan. 17. While yet to be approved, the prospect of fare collection is renewing questions of how Green Mountain Transit — and transit bus systems throughout the state — should be funded, and whether the current system equitably distributes the costs associated
with keeping a county-wide bus system. “There’s a structural issue with how we fund transit in Vermont,” said Jon Moore, the agency’s acting general manager. “Number one, there’s just an over-reliance on the property tax for everything, and number two, we’re providing a regional service which is funded locally and that just causes a lot of issues in terms of equity, in terms of making common-sense planning decisions.” Green Mountain Transit has lines that run through every one of Chittenden County’s towns and cities — as well as commuter lines that run to Montpelier and parts of Lamoille, Franklin, and Grand Isle counties, for example — but collects an assessment fee from only eight municipalities in Chittenden County: Burlington, South See BUS FARES on page 12