Frogbit numbers
At the Pierson
Volunteers rid waterways of invasive species
Space doula, movies, book clubs this week
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Volume 53 Number 50
POSTAL CUSTOMER
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shelburnenews.com
December 12, 2024
Budget talks
Celebrating winter!
Selectboard mulls cuts to services, employee benefits PATRICK BILOW STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY LEE KROHN
Shelburne Craft School celebrates the season with its Winter Festival Dec. 7 at its location on Harbor Road. People enjoyed workshops, demonstrations in clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood and more, artisans’ crafts, a silent auction and roasted chestnuts. More photos , page 3.
As budget season gets underway, Shelburne town leaders are walking a fine line between cutting services and raising taxes. During a selectboard meeting last week, town manager Matt Lawless was asked to tighten the belt another notch after proposing a 4 percent tax increase for 2025. Selectboard members said they were uncomfortable raising property taxes again and opted to revisit the budget next week before delivering an official draft. The selectboard spent most of last week’s meeting investigating where to cut expenses, focusing on “major buckets” like law enforcement, capital plans and health care, and how to increase revenue.
Shelburne is expected to pay $1.26 million on health care for 54 employees and their families next year. As one of the town’s largest expenses, that figure is a 10 percent increase from last year, and Shelburne, like many Vermont towns, is hard pressed to keep up year after year. “We need to have a serious conversation about benefits packages,” selectboard chair Michael Ashooh said. The selectboard discussed potential benefit cuts to bring down the overall cost of health care, while maintaining a scheduled 4 percent raise for employees next year. “I think the message that Vermont is too expensive rang loud See BUDGET on page 12
Passion 4 Paws finds homes for more dogs than ever ACE SHEEHAN COMMUNITY NEWS SERVICE
In her 20 years of rescuing dogs, Robin Shover says she’s never seen so many needing a home. “It is such an epidemic that
people don’t even understand how bad it is, especially right now,” she said. Animals across the U.S. are experiencing longer stays in shelters, according to the group Shelter Animals Count.
Shover is the founder of Passion 4 Paws, a Shelburne-based, nonprofit, volunteer-run rescue organization. She says a variety of factors are responsible for the increase. “I think it’s due to the inflation
of mental health and people just not being accountable for their commitments,” she said. After personally rescuing dogs for 10 years, Shover started Passion 4 Paws in 2014. Since then, she says the organization rescued over
3,000 dogs. Passion 4 Paws relies on volunteers willing to help, whether fostering dogs or transporting them. See PASSION 4 PAWS on page 13
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