Silver anniversary
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Hinesburg Artist Series celebrates 25 years of music
CVU boys’ basketball advances to Division I championship
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March 9, 2023
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Hinesburg approves $4.7M budget, votes in new board member Voters also approve police department spend COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
Hinesburg voters approved the town’s $4.7 million budget and voted in Paul Lamberson to the selectboard to fill the seat vacated by Phil Pouech. Lamberson will serve out the remaining year on the vacated by Pouech, who is now Hinesburg’s state representative in Montpelier. Lamberson submitted his petition for the seat several days after discovering that no one had yet filed to run. He has served nine years as a trustee with the Carpenter Carse Library, and previously served as a school board member. “I’d certainly like to thank the voters who placed their confidence in me, and my colleagues on previous boards who helped me learn so much,” he said. Lamberson will join selectboard members Merrily Lovell, the chair of the selectboard who also ran uncontested for a new three-year term; and Dennis Place, another uncontested incumbent who won a two-year term; as well as current members Mike Loner and Maggie Gordon. “I look forward to working with the existing select board members and all stakeholders as we look at
the challenges Hinesburg is facing right now,” Lamberson said. “None of the solutions sound easy, quick or cheap. But we’re lucky to have an abundance of innovative people in Hinesburg, and I will be ready to draw on that collective talent to keep our town a special and welcoming home for all.”
Budget items In addition to the selectboard, Hinesburg residents also approved the town’s $4,798,710 budget. Budget items — police, fire, highway, general government, and other items — were overwhelmingly approved. Voters decided last year to move all decisions to Australian ballot, instead of the traditional, in-person vote. The town’s budget includes little in the way of spending increases — about $11,000, or roughly 0.25 percent. The budget “is more about lost revenue than it is about expenses,” Lovell said during an informational meeting held for voters Monday night. “About $290,000 in non-tax revenues that were in last year’s budget are not available for this year’s budget.” More than 80 percent of the See HINESBURG on page 10
PHOTO BY AYLIN ARIFKHAN
A helpful sign at Hinesburg Town Hall welcomes voters on Town Meeting Day.
Charlotte town budget voted down Devine wins selectboard seat, Siket elected to the school board LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
After a contentious budget season, Charlotte’s $2.9 million town budget failed by just 35 votes, 493 to 458, forcing the selectboard back to the drawing board. “We’re concerned about the direction of our budget, we’ve got to keep these families in town. They’ve been living here for generations,” chair of the selectboard
Jim Faulkner said at the informational meeting on Monday. Juggling with inflation-related employee benefit increases and the town garage debt services, members emphasized that the largest cost driver was a necessary overall pay increase for town employees. “We hired an expert, Gallagher and Flynn, to do a market analysis for us to see where we stood in terms of what we’re paying our
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employees,” Faulkner said. “The goal was to get to the market rate which we did. We were way behind the eight ball so that brought us up to a market rate.” “Our most valuable asset is our employees, we need to pay them competitively,” said board member Louise McCarren. “Even though this is jolting to the eye, I think it’s See CHARLOTTE on page 11
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