‘All Aboard’
Climate changes
Railroad in art debuts at Shelburne Museum
Floods pose growing risks to Lake Champlain
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July 25, 2024
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Charlotte sets tax rate
Party at the beach
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
A member of Mystic Party Band entertains the crowds at Charlotte’s annual town party at Charlotte Beach on July 13. More photos on page 8.
The Charlotte Selectboard set the tax rate at almost exactly what was expected when voters approved the budget at Town Meeting Day this year. With a budget of $4.2 million — town spending plus a nearly $1 million Charlotte fire and rescue budget — the municipal tax rate was set at $.1834, slightly up from last year’s $.1804. That number is also still below what residents were paying during fiscal year 2023 at nearly 24 cents. Some of the larger budget allocations this year came with a 49 percent increase in the town’s debt service, mostly allocated for the new town garage and solar installation, which is expected to power most town buildings going forward. Still, residents will pay more than they did last year in taxes. This is mostly due to the increase in education tax rates associated with the change in the state’s educating funding formula that went into effect this year. The town’s new education tax rate of $1.292 for residents is nearly 18 percent over what it was last year.
In total, Charlotte taxpayers will pay $1.4755 in combined taxes this year. For a home valued at $500,000, residents can expect to pay $7,378, significantly higher than last year and mostly associated with education costs.
Budget review Additionally, the town is in a much better position for its yearend budget review than it was last year. In fact, the town built back part of its fund balance that was lost last year. For fiscal year 2024, the town fared better with revenues, which totaled more than $60,000 over last year. The big revenue “winners,” town clerk Mary Mead said, were the senior center, recreation programs, interest income and an unanticipated $10,000 Efficiency Vermont grant for the town garage. Expenses were $160,000 less than expected, she said. The senior center, fire and rescue, assessor’s office and elections all spent less money than was budgeted. The fire and rescue service See TAX RATE on page 12
Town planner announces retirement, turns to Statehouse seat LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
Over the past four years that Larry Lewack has been town planner in Charlotte, he has worked to push the town forward in a variety of ways as it pertains to land use
management and planning. He has undertaken massive bylaw rewrites and, most notably, began one of the biggest planning feats in Charlotte with the village master planning project, a two-year comprehensive dive into the future of the town’s East and
West villages. Now, he is striking out on a different retirement path than most as he makes his bid for the Statehouse to represent Burlington’s Chittenden 13 House district, where he lives, as a Democrat. He said the decision to retire
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at the end of this year came as other aspects of his life began to converge, and he feels that by finishing the work with the master planning project by year’s end will make it easier to pass the baton to his successor. “I feel like it’s actually a really
good invitation for me to take time to stop and reconsider a kind of different lifestyle than what I’ve been pursuing with full-time work these past, however many years, See LEWACK on page 12
Shelburne Road, S. Burlington Maple Tree Place, Williston
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