Town Meetings and the annual meeting of the Harwood Unified Union School District take place next week.
Voters will gather in town halls, offices, and schools to discuss budgets, school finances and to elect officials. Here are the details.
The annual meeting of the Harwood Unified Union School District takes place March 3 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Harwood Union auditorium and via Zoom. At that meeting school board members will explain this year’s proposed budget of $49,209,927 which is 2% higher than last year’s budget. This year’s budget relies on cutting 15-20 positions, to be determined after Town Meeting on March 4.
Those cuts include school nurses, according to a newsletter from Warren Elementary School which reports the proposed cut could mean that none of the four Valley schools will have a full-time school nurse if the budget passes.
Voters will cast co-mingled Australian ballots on the school budget in their hometowns. Australian ballot voting will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. throughout the district.
Voters in Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston will be asked to approve changes to the Mad River Recreation District charter so that the town of Moretown can join as a half member. Moretown voters will be asked to approve joining the district and paying a half share of $20,000 starting in 2026.
In Waitsfield, voters will meet at Waitsfield Elementary School at 9 a.m. for Town Meeting. Voters will be asked to pass a town budget of $2,795,116 with $2,309,789 raised from property taxes. Voters will also be asked to transfer $100,000 to a town garage fund and $75,000 to a Wait House reserve fund. Voters will be asked to approve $2,500 for Mad River Valley Arts.
Warren voters will gather at Warren Elementary School at 4 p.m. for Town Meeting and voters will be asked to pass an annual budget of 44,128,677. This year voters will be asked to allocate $30,000 for the town’s conservation reserve fund.
Fayston Town Meeting gets underway at 9:30 a.m. at the Robert Vasseur Town Hall and voters will be asked to pass a budget of $1,843,877. That budget includes allocations to the town’s reserve funds.
Moretown’s Town Meeting gets underway at 4 p.m. at Moretown Elementary School. This year’s proposed budget is $1,859,294. The budget includes the town’s reserve fund contributions.
Duxbury voters are again voting via drive-thru balloting at the town office on Route 100 from 7 am. to 7 p.m. This year Duxbury’s budget is $1.31 million and that includes contributions to the town’s reserve funds.
