‘Footloose’
Race day
CVU kids tell age-old story of growing up
CVU girls race to second place at New Englands
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Nov. 27, 2024
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Weekly news coverage for Charlotte and Hinesburg
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Under construction: Spear Street repair makes headway
Hanging on
LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
A stand of tamarack boldly makes itself know on Mt. Philo.
The Charlotte Selectboard has chosen two contractors to fix the portion of Spear Street devastated by historic flooding this summer. Charlotte saw nearly 5.3 inches of rain overnight on July 10 and a 10-foot by 60-foot culvert was washed away on Spear Street, leaving the major connector unpassable. Additionally, roughly 10 feet of Spear Street just south of the culvert that crosses Muddy Hollow Brook eroded when the ground became oversaturated by the torrential rains. The selectboard decided to fix the road with a dual culvert solution in August but had been waiting for approval from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources to move forward. Since the town received
the go-ahead from the agency this month, the selectboard has engaged two separate contractors to complete repairs for the street. Poulin Companies LLC, a civil construction firm in Burlington, will complete the culvert replacement for just over $555,000 and Dirt Tech LLC, a construction company from Colchester, will complete the slope stabilization for $272,000. Poulin Companies estimates that the work on the culvert replacement could begin as soon as Dec. 1. The second phase of the project will include paving, line striping, final seeding and erosion repair, which is dependent on the weather. “Based on what we’re hearing from both contractors, it looks like Dirt Tech is estimating a compleSee SPEAR STREET on page 3
CVSD sets preliminary budget target of $103 million LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
As preliminary budget conversations begin, the Champlain Valley School District has set a budget target of $103 million for fiscal year 2026.
A first pass at the budget last week showed exactly what that path could entail. “At this point we know that, through a lot of really uncomfortable, difficult collaborative work, we have a path to $103 million on the expense side, but that is not
without impact,” Gary Marckres, chief operations officer, said at a board meeting last week. CVSD experienced significant repercussions during last year’s budget cycle when the state introduced unprecedented changes in the education funding system.
That shift, meant to equalize education across the state, led to significant tax hikes — upwards of 14 percent — in the five towns that make up the school district. The number, while not final, would represent a 1.2 percent increase in spending over the
$101.8 million budget that passed after one failed attempt on Town Meeting Day this year. Officials with the district have been working earlier than usual on See BUDGET on page 12
Handmade Pasta Dinner Starts at 4:00 Nightly on the Church Street Marketplace
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