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December 26, 2025
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Hinesburg selectboard mulls a difficult budget
Goodies for good
BRIANA BRADY STAFF WRITER
PHOTO BY BRIANA BRADY
United Church of Hinesburg held its annual cookie walk on Sunday, Dec. 21 with proceeds benefiting the Hinesburg Food Shelf.
Facing rising costs and budget pressures, Hinesburg Selectboard members recently waded into difficult conversations about what services the town could afford and what level of tax burden residents might be able to bear — and what they might not. The draft budget town manager Todd Odit presented to the board Wednesday, Dec. 17 was a $750,000 increase of the amount to be raised through taxes from the current fiscal year and a total budget of $6.1 million. “I didn’t do any trimming of this budget before it got to the selectboard, because I wanted the selectboard to see what (department heads) thought the departments’ needs were,” Odit said. “You don’t have to agree with that, but I think the message to the board is, this is what they’re seeing as being needed in the future.” The board grappled with those choices: detailing what the town needs to maintain, what could be cut and what may need to increase.
The grand list Hinesburg is expecting to grow soon — ground has already been broken on the Haystack Crossing development, which is slated to add 176 housing units, and the development review board recently approved plans for two large developments that together will add 158 more. However, some selectboard members focused on the timing of that growth and how the town will pay for increased services associated with a larger population. “I disagree with just taxing and taxing. We need to fix the problem, not just keep taxing our way out of stuff. We need to wait for these other developments come in. We need to wait. We cannot be spending this money until those developments come in,” selectboard member Dennis Place said. Place’s position, which was shared by others on the board, stood in contrast to the suggestion from Odit that the town bolster services incrementally — adding See BUDGET on page 3
CVU and SB girls’ hockey form a co-op D1 team, Chittenden Charge LAUREN READ CORRESPONDENT
For many years, players from Champlain Valley and South Burlington have faced off against each other on the ice.
This season, the two schools will team up — along with Mount Mansfield — to form a high school Division I girls ice hockey team, the Chittenden Charge. “It was a real tragedy that South Burlington didn’t have a
season last year,” Charge coach Matt Bunting said. “The ambition was not to be reactive in the moment, but to be proactive and take a look at how we can get as many kids out there skating, playing hockey.
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“Administrators at the highest levels, community members, coaches, players, have been sort of in this conversation for months about how we can make this whole thing work, and the Chittenden Charge was born in that way.”
South Burlington had to abruptly cancel its season last year, right before practices were set to begin, due to low numbers. See HOCKEY on page 12