Middlebury Players
Climate play
Actors earnestly take on Wilde’s classic play
Plays tours all 252 Vermont towns to help environment
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February 2, 2023
Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
Hinesburg’s $4.7 million budget tries to keep costs down
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thecitizenvt.com
Just out of reach
Comes with 3.6 percent tax increase COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
The Hinesburg Selectboard last week warned a vote for Town Meeting Day on its $4.7 million budget, which includes a relatively low tax increase yet was not approved unanimously by the board. The town’s fiscal year 2024 budget, totaling $4,798,710, includes little in the way of spending increases — only 0.25 percent, according to town manager Todd Odit — as the town aims to try and
keep expenses stable amid declining non-tax revenues. “Committees have requested things and we all heard that at our budget meetings, (but) a lot of those were not granted because we’re really trying to keep costs down,” Merrily Lovell, chair of the selectboard, said. “A lot of those were just level funded from last year.” “We’ve heard from more than one person begging us to keep the budget low and keep the taxes low See BUDGET on page 10
Charlotte receives $13,600 bylaw modernization grant LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Charlotte received a $13,600 bylaw modernization grant to increase housing and affordability within the town’s two village centers. The town plans to use tte grant to do a deep dive into its land use regulations to identify and remove zoning barriers and evaluate needed infrastructure to enable higher density development — including affordable housing — in its two historic villages, reads the grant application. The town received an audit of
its zoning bylaws from Chittenden County Regional Planning in November that highlighted many obstacles to building housing, “some of which don’t really seem to be tied to anything logical,” town planner Larry Lewack said. “Members of our planning commission decided that we really have quite a bit of work ahead of us. We need help to get through that process of taking those recommendations from regional planning to heart and attacking all the places in our current land use regulations which are, frankly, See GRANT on page 10
PHOTO BY AL FREY
Alex Montgomery battles for the rebound in the CVU girls’ basketball game against South Burlington Jan. 26. More sports on page 8.