This week we’ll take a big leap to end sunny February. Next week, Tuesday, March 5 is Vermont Town Meeting Day and the Presidential Primary Election. Town Meeting Week also generally marks the half-way point for the legislative session, and an opportunity for us to take a breather with a week away from Montpelier. I’m looking forward to it!
Town Meeting Day
There are a lot of important races and issues on this year’s March ballot. Be sure you’re registered to vote; learn about the budgets, candidates, and issues; and have a plan to vote. You can check your My Voter Page to register to vote, request a mail-in ballot, or check the status of your ballot. For young voters, Vermont law allows 17-year-olds who will turn 18 years-old by November’s Election Day to vote in the March presidential primary. So register to vote and start to exercise your right to vote!
You are likely hearing a lot about school budgets and property tax increases. In part this is due to an unintended consequence of a provision in 2022 Act 127, the legislation that re-balanced the school funding formula to enable very rural school districts and those with more students living in poverty or students who need English language education to access more funding. Last week we passed H.850, which corrects this error and permits school districts to reduce their already-warned budgets and schedule a later vote on their budgets, if necessary. Many school districts, including most in the Addison District, already reduced their budgets and will have votes on the normal Town Meeting ballot. Some may schedule later votes.
School districts are under enormous pressure to create budgets that meet the needs of students in the face of rising healthcare costs, a reduction in federal pandemic aid, overall inflation, and substantial student needs. And many Vermonters are not able to afford the education tax increases that may be required to meet these needs. As the legislative session continues, we will be working to ease some of these pressures as best we can. I also encourage you learn more about your school district’s budget proposal before you vote on Town Meeting Day. Each school district holds an annual informational meeting and posts information about its budget proposal on its website. Similarly, towns produce detailed annual reports, and hold either annual meetings where they vote on the town budget or informational meetings prior to a ballot vote on March 5. Finally, the Addison Independent is featuring articles about many of the contested races for local office. Check out these resources before you vote.
A Few Bills and Updates of Note
The Senate Government Operations Committee, which I chair, is close to finishing work on S.310 a bill aimed at improving the government response to natural disasters. The bill covers many seemingly mundane, but crucially important topics that are necessary to keep Vermonters safe during the next natural disaster, including emergency communications and translation, shelters and evacuation routes, emergency planning and training, storm water utilities, public works employees and first responders, swift water rescue teams, and funding for communities to mitigate future flooding. It’s been great to get feedback and ideas from communities around the state, including during a Committee field trip to the hard-hit City of Barre (see above photo), on how we can do better next time. The Committee is also working on a post-COVID update to the Open Meeting Law for public boards and committees and a bill to investigate how to improve county government in Vermont.
A small bill, H.469, that the Senate Health and Welfare Committee will pass this week updates the process for writing an advance directive, which is a document that outlines your wishes for medical treatment if you are no longer able to make those decisions. Working on H.469 reminded me that I needed to complete my own advance directive, which I did, so now I’m reminding you too! No matter how old you are, it’s really important that your loved ones know what your wishes are if you are injured or ill and unable to communicate. You can learn a lot more about the process and your options from the Vermont Ethics Network.
And, a few things of note: This Thursday, February 29th (Leap Day!), the VT Farm to School and Early Childhood Network is hosting a gathering at the Middlebury High School to learn more about farm-to-school efforts and discuss ideas for getting more local foods into school meals. All are welcome – there will be snacks! Earlier this month was Unclaimed Property Day to highlight the state program that helps Vermonters claim funds and property that belong to them. Check out the VT State Treasurer’s Unclaimed Property website to see if you might have something coming to you (I found $37.48!). Finally, I was recently asked why there aren’t more fast chargers for electric vehicles in Addison County. The short answer is that more chargers are on the way, but it’s taking longer than many drivers want! You can check out the VTrans website for details of the EV charging program and fill out this survey if your organization or property could be a potential host for an EV charging station. Thank you!
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading and remember to vote!
Ruth for Vermont 