Rutland Daily Herald from Rutland, Vermont • 22

22 Rutland Daily Herald fOWII Meeting 98 Wednesday, March 4, 1998 Rihn, Progressives Win Big Victory Town Meeting 1998 Brattleboro Rihn, who ran unsuccessfully for state representative several times, was surprised at her own success, but she said the Progressive Coalition of Windham County was key to her election. I had the help of a lot of people, basically the Progressive Coalition of Windham County, she said. The Progressive Coalition also was pivotal in the election of Robert Miller of Brattleboro to the Brattleboro Union High School Board. Also elected to the high school board were incumbents Cheryl Pavlik and town School Board member Judy Ashkenaz. Pavlik was the top vote-getter with 1,029 votes, Ashkenas second with 978, Miller at 905, and Lynn Corum, who received 883 votes, finished out of the running.

Rihn said housing issues were her main impetus for running, but her candidacy evolved to adding diversity to a congenial, if homogenous board. If I have one priority, it is to get more people involved and to have more people feel more of an ownership of the town government, she said. Robert S. Fagelson, who ran unopposed for a three-year term, had 1,084 votes. Fagelson, who has been on the board for two years, switched from a one-year term to a three-year term; Miller made the opposite switch.

Rihns election shocked several board members, but Fagelson, who is slated to be elected to his third year as chairman at the boards reorganizational meeting on Wednesday, took it in stride. By SUSAN SMALL-HEER Southern Vermont Bureau BRATTLEBORO -Political newcomer Shoshana Rihn scrambled onto the Brattleboro Select Board Tuesday by the skinniest of margins, winning a seat on the board by only three votes. Rihn collected 855 votes, nudging out incumbent Rihn Matt Speno, who had 852 votes. The other incumbent, Charles F. Miller, was top vote-getter with 946 votes.

Spenos wife Frances, said her husband would not ask for a recount, despite the close margin. I dont think so, the machines are pretty sen-sitve," she said. Her husband declined to come to the telephone. Rihn herself was surprised that Speno wasnt thinking of a recount. I would ask for one, she said.

Town Clerk Annette Cappy said that the original margin of victory had been five votes for Rihn, but that Speno picked up another two votes when the election night workers tallied write-in votes. Rihn launched her candidacy in late January after the Select Board rejected a prposed local housing code to address what the Brattleboro Housing Corp. of which Jtihn is a member, said were problems with rental housing. Stratton, Dover Put Budget Votes on Hold meeting to add her voice of alarm. Singer, who said she and her husband had owned a second home for 25 years, said her tax bill could hit $8,000 a year.

She said she wasnt sure, but it was currently slightly more than $1,000. Singer said she would have to sell her home, and she noted that her taxes on her home in West Hartford were less than $5,000. Singer said Vermont was damaging its vacation economy, because people would have to sell their homes, rather than pay the higher property taxes. I wont be the only one, she said. Ive lost my investment, said Singer.

There are a lot of people at Stratton who are not gold people." Back in Dover, residents face a big took the advice of School Board member Jerri Carey and tabled the school budget until May. Stratton is facing an astronomical increase in school taxes, according to Rep. Wendell Coleman, I-Londonderry. This year, Strattons school tax rate is 12 cents, but in a couple of years, the tax rate could hit $2 per $100 of assessed value. Because of the Act 60 cap of 40 percent increase in the first year, the tax rate will be 26 cents, or 28.9 cents because Stratton is underappraised.

Stratton has in the past only had to pay for the education of a few dozen children, with thousands of vacation homes at Stratton Mountain to pick up the tab. One second homeowner, Jane Singer of West Hartford, attended the increase, but not as staggering as Stratton. Voters tabled 16 articles, 13 on the school side of thingB and three town articles. Both Stratton and Dover are pursuing a way around Act 60 setting up a private educational foundation to funnel money into the schools to avoid raising taxes and sharing the revenue with other Vermont schools. Dover tabled an article to establish such a foundation, saying it couldnt be the action of the town, but a private effort.

In Stratton, Carey announced that the Stratton-Winhall Educational Foundation had been formed in December and the group had already hired a professional fund raiser to help them on their quest. million school budget and a $2.6 million town budget, along with a raft, of other special projects ranging from a new bus to repairs, automating the school library and new computers for the school. In Stratton, voters approved the town budget of $518,000, but tabled the $240,000 school spending plan. Stratton doesnt run a school; it pays tuition to send all of its students to area schools. Chadwick, who has become Dovers point-person on the complex law, which means enormous.

tax changes for the town, had no trouble convincing the 1 50 Dover residents to postpone action until May. Over in Stratton, voters approved the town budget, but after lunch, they By SUSAN SMALLHEER Southern Vermont Bureau Two bookend ski resort towns Mount Snow's Dover and Stratton Mountains namesake took the only step they could Tuesday to protest Act 60. They refused to vote on town and school budgets. Saying they wanted to wait for as long as possible to let legal challenges ripen, as well as get additional information from the state, the two towns followed identical strategies Tuesday, only 15 miles apart. With the Legislature only approving the so-called technical changes late Monday, Dover Selectwoman Jane Chadwick said the town couldnt even get a full copy of all the changes.

Dover postponed action on a $1.8 Im Sure Youre Here Somewhere Three Are Elected To School Board Southern Vermont Bureau CHESTER Diane Mueller, John I Coleman and Raymond Butch Stearns won seats on the Green Mountain Union High School Board Tuesday. Mueller defeated William Lindsay, by only 16 votes, 419 to 403, to serve out an unexpired one-year term. She said she was thrilled with the win. I Lindsay, Coleman and Steams had campaigned as a group, but only Coleman and Steams were successful. Steams and Coleman won the two three-year terms.

Steams had 513 votes to Colemans 503. They defeated Debra Greene, who received 392 votes. Alison Deslauriers was re-elected to the Chester-Andover Elementary School Board. She defeated Steve Greene 600 votes to 564. Aili Farrar beat Debra Greene for the town school director position, 456 votes to 350.

On the town side, William Lincoln will serve an unexpired one-year term on the Select Board. He defeated Harry Goodell, 453 tallies to 337. Michael LeClair and William Lindsay will join him on the board. They will serve one-year terms. LeClair and Lindsay received 470 and 363 votes respectively.

Fred Baldwin and Richard Crowson ran unsuccessfully. Richard Jewett ran uncontested for a three-year seat. He got 741 votes. Andover Approves Increasing Taxes Herald Correspondent ANDOVER Andover voters kept their sense of humor as they saw their budget rise and their cars begin to sink into muddy town roads at town meeting Tuesday night. A school district budget that rose by 50 percent under Act 60 brought spending for next fiscal year to just better than $1 million.

A host of zoning regulation changes, which included allowing conditional use permits for gravel extraction, was narrowly defeated by Australian budget. The 125 townspeople who filled town hall voted to seat Gary Hale on the Select Board for one year, filling the slot Jeffrey Gordon left after stepping down following eight years of service, and reelected Robert Sydorowich to his one-year position. The meeting ground its way through school budget numbers that jumped $200,000 to add a state mandated 40 percent gold town increase in school tax rate to $1.07 per $100 of valuation. While the town budget was down $3,000 to $456,000, resident Barry Williams said that $35,000 the town used last year to fund the current use program, since re-assumed by the state, now was spread throughout the budget as line item increases. I dont think raising the town budget by an effective $32,000 makes sense in an Act 60 year he said.

GMUHS Budget Is Voted Down ballots are co-mingled so it is impossible to know how each town voted, Andrews said. Chester voters tax rate is going down about 39 cents. Andovers tax rate will increase about 40 percent, and Cavendish property owners tax rate will be somewhere between those two, Andrews said. Board Chairman Diane Mueller also agreed that the two main reasons that voters voted down the budget were Act 60 and the alternative education program. She said perhaps the voters were not ready to make a decision on the alternative education program.

Maybe we can work a little harder, she said. The School Board will meet Thursday, and even though it is not on the agenda, she was sure the board would talk about the budget and ask the administration to look at possible cuts. By ALISON WATKINS Southern Vermont Bureau CHESTER Voters rejected the Green Mountain Union High School budget Tuesday, 745 votes to 524. After all-day Australian balloting, Chester, Cavendish and Andover voters defeated the $3.9 million budget, up from last years budget of $3.5 million. The 1 1 percent increase is mainly due to an alternative education program.

Twenty students who have difficulty learning in a traditional classroom setting would attend the proposed off-campus program. The board will have to start over again, said Vice Chairman Richard Andrews. He said he was not sure if people were opposed to the alternative education program, or if they were responding to the uncertainty of Act 60, particularly in Cavendish and Andover. As part of the school's charter, the Town Hall Neighbors Object to New Door By OLIVIA F. GENTILE Southern Vermont Bureau HARTLAND Abutters of Damon Hall complained at town meeting Tuesday that the Select Board should have consulted them before planning a construction project that they think will encroach on their privacy and comfort Hartland is planning to build a handicapped -accessible entrance to the town offices in Damon Hall at the back of the building, near Donna Dubuc and Jim Grossing's home.

On the floor of town meeting, town residents approved a 1 ,076,000 tiudget that includes a $35,000 appropriation for the Damon Hall work. I-hibuc and Grussing unsuccessfully attempted to get the $35,000 appropriation removed from the budget to stall the renovation project. Nobody ever sat down with us and said, this is she said. Town Manager Robert Stacey said, We did err in nc4 notifying them and not being as communicative as we should have been. And he said that a couple of changes in the project had been made at Dubuc and Grossings request But essentially, it will proceed as planned, Stacey said.

In Tuesdays Australian ballot voting, Cy Bailey was voted on to the Select Board over incumbent Norman Davis, who failed to get on the ballot and was obliged to run a write-in campaign. The margin was 324-71. Assistant Treasurer Carolyn Trombley was elected treasurer over incumbent Eileen J. Holmes 305 votes to 145. Incumbent Constable Anthony J.

Leonard was re-elected over Roger Berry, 241-200. Photo by Ptor Klrlrt IVck Alice Powers, a ballot clerk for the town of Rockingham, looks up the name of a would-be voter on Tuesday. Gov. Dean Toots His Own Horn at Bethel Town Meeting Baltimore Decides On Budget Year Herald Correspondent BALTIMORE At meetings start, the name Thomas appeared 13 times in the list of town officers. At meetings end, the family name appeared only 12 time.

Incumbent Selectman Wayne Thomas lost 23-6 to Zoning Board Administrator Kevin Gould in the only contested race of the evening. Voters approved a school tax rate of 66 cents and a town tax rate of 52 cents for a total of $1.18, down from $1.70 this year. In lively discussion, Board Chairman Shepard Thomas and resident Harrison Kendall disagreed on whether the budget being discussed was for 1 998-99, Kendall's opinion, or for 1999, Thomas opinion. With a time-out to check minutes of prior town meetings and much poring over records, the issue was never really resolved to the satisfaction of all. In the end, Thomas had his way, and the budget agreed on was for 1999 Baltimore's School Board uses fiscal years that start in July; Baltimore's Select Board, at least for now, uses calendar years.

Thomas reported on a boundary dispute with Weathersfield, which he said could cost the town about $7,000 in legal fees. Voters agreed to fund $20,000 for a used road grader from Surplus Equipment, if one becomes available. The grader would be free, with the appropriated money being used to transport it. With the towns present grader in guarded condition, voters turned down an article asking permission to sell the backup grader. Before the meeting started, a moment's silence was observed for Bert O.

Spafford, a longtime town official who died Tuesday. Dean reminded the voters of two important aspects of education reform that receive far less attention than the volatile issue of school spending. School choice, which will come in 2001, is important because it will give people who are not happy with their local school the choice to go elsewhere." And standardized testing of students, to be implemented statewide in April, will provide a measure of which schools are performing up to expectations, and which ones arent. The results of the testing will be available for public viewing on the Internet, Dean said. So were going to be able to tell Vermonters what theyre getting for their money." Dean cited a favored statistic that Vermont rates sixth in the nation in school spending, but only 26th in income.

We pay the greatest percentage of income on education than any other state, Dean said. When he opened the floor to questions, Davis Dimock approached the microphone to question the impact statewide testing and school choice could have on some students. If the wealthiest and most talented students fled from their local school, where would that leave the students that remained? Davis asked. Dean responded that low test scores or a mass exodus of students from a school would signal that a school needed improvement But the governor did not spell out how the improvements would be implemented, and Davis said later that he was not satisfied with Deans answer. Besides giving Dean a piece of their minds, Bethel voters approved $600,000 in town spending, and repealed the business personal property tax, among other actions The voting surprised few in the audience, but Dean said later he was surprised that the town budget passed.

I dont know if I would have voted for a town budget thats up 10.3 percent," Dean said. Greeting Dean warmly outside the school auditorium, former Rep. Barbara Woods, said she shared Davis concerns about school choice. Theres a long way to go, she said It doesnt go into effect for three years. I think it has to be handled very carefully." By MARC SIEGAL Southern Vermont Bureau BETHEL Gov.

Howard Dean dropped in on Bethels Town Meeting Tuesday and told an audience of about 120 voters that progress had been made on the two issues Dean had discussed when he addressed the same gathering one year ago. It gave me pleasure to read last years town report, Dean said. In its summary of the 1997 town meeting, the annual report records that the governor spoke then of his new Drunk Driving bill and property tax reform." We passed property tax reform, and we're going to pass a pretty good drunk driving law, the governor told the Whitcomb High School Audience. But I didnt come to give a speech," Dean said. I came to listen.

And listen he did. But first he gave a little speech. Dean said he expected to sign the Act 60 technical revisions bill into law this week. I think most people here are going to be for (Act 80)," he said, because your school tax rate is going to fall. Woods, with whom Dean once served on the House Education Committee, told the governor she had to take exception to something else he had said.

I have to disagree that Act 60 will put everyone on a even field, she said. You have to look at where everyones starting from." The governor nodded his agreement..