Voters concerned with budgets, tax increases at polls

Town clerks all along the Connecticut River were impressed with the voter turnout yesterday as the residents hit the polls for Town Meeting Day. Springfield voters were greeted by a row of hopeful candidates as they made their way to their polling site inside Riverside school gymnasium.
www.eagletimes.com/news/2012-03-07/Front_Page/Local_voters_concerned_with_budgets_tax_increases_.html

Local voters concerned with budgets, tax increases at polls
2012-03-07 / Front Page

VERMONT
By IAN LORD
Staff Writer Eagle Times

Springfield voters are greeted by candidates, as well as supporters of candidates, as they head to the polls at the Riverside Middle School gym yesterday afternoon. PAUL HOWE PHOTOS

Town clerks all along the Connecticut River were impressed with the voter turnout yesterday as the residents hit the polls for Town Meeting Day.

Along with local elections and the Republican presidential primary, voters interviewed yesterday expressed concerns about local budgets and increasing tax rates. While there was a level of understanding for budget increases — particularly in towns heavily impacted by Tropical Storm Irene — several voters complained towns were being irresponsible with taxpayer money.

“Everybody spends too much money,” Rockingham resident Harry Palmer said yesterday outside the polls. “It’s a sad, sad thing.”

Palmer said he moved to Vermont from New York 35 years ago because of the Green Mountain State’s fiscally-conservative tradition. After voting at the Masonic Hall in Bellows Falls yesterday, Palmer said that way of thinking is gone from the state.

Robin Taber campaigns for selectman outside the Windsor Municipal Building yesterday afternoon. Robin Taber campaigns for selectman outside the Windsor Municipal Building yesterday afternoon. “I thought Vermonters were conservative, and they’re not,” he said.

Rockingham was among many Vermont towns seeing a tax rate increase, with voters passing the $4.9 million operating budget Monday night. The 11-cent increase on the tax rate was based on unforeseen expenses from Irene and contractual obligations the town has to fulfill, according to officials.

State Representative Matthew Trieber, D-Rockingham, said voters understood the need for the budget increase. While Monday night’s Town Meeting saw a lively discussion about the increase, Trieber said voters were understanding about the town’s needs.

“Unfortunately we had a lot of uncontrollable costs,” he said. “If we didn’t spend money now, we would’ve spent a lot more in the long run.”

Springfield taxpayers won’t experience as large a bump in property taxes as Rockingham, after passing their $10.05 million town budget representing a three-cent increase to the tax rate. Some residents were upset about how much money Springfield spends and the impact that has on their property taxes.

Victoria Nickerson voted against Springfield’s budget because she said the town overpays its workers. She said she was sick of seeing town road employees being paid to just hang out by the side of the road. She said if town workers get paid as much as they do, she deserves more for her nursing assistant position at Mt. Ascutney Hospital in Windsor.

“I think that this town pays its town workers too much money,” Nickerson said in an interview yesterday. “These people get a lot of money and I don’t think they appreciate how much money they’re taking from the town.”

Springfield resident Len Emery said he was tired of the town government being run by the same old people as in years past, prompting him to vote for new people running for the selectboard.

“This town is so old-time politics,” Emery said. “I voted for two new guys this year.”

Town Meeting ballots often include unique articles unrelated to local elections and budgets and this year was no exception.

Members of Springfield on the Move — the town’s downtown organization — were outside the Riverside Middle School trying to draw support for their $20,000 special appropriation on the ballot. Typically included with the town operating budget, the selectboard this year decided to move SOM’s appropriation request to a separate article.

The SOM appropriation passed yesterday, according to the unofficial results from the Springfield town clerk’s office. Asking voters for their support, however, wasn’t ideal for an organization with limited resources, said Carol Lighthall, executive director of SOM.

“Our hope is that we won’t have to continue to campaign for the funding year after year,” Lighthall said. “This isn’t our favorite thing to do.”

Windsor’s Town Meeting ballot had two new items unique to this year. Residents voted down an article proposed by the selectboard that would’ve changed town charter language relating to the office of the assessor and listers. Resident Dennis Sweeney said the listers do a good job and the town shouldn’t make changes to something that’s already working.

“I think they ought to leave it the way it is,” Sweeney said yesterday. “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”

Windsor voters overwhelmingly supported an article that would allow the town to bond up to $1 million to repair the Mill Dam at Kennedy Pond. The dam has long been a center of discussion in Windsor, and residents clearly supported getting it fixed by a vote of 511-179.

Beyond local issues, Vermonters were also playing their part in the presidential primary. Weathersfield resident Greeno Rossi said he was shocked at how much media attention was put on the primary in Vermont, a state that typically doesn’t play a big role in the presidential race. He credited the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for bringing interest to the GOP race in Vermont.

“I was surprised to hear on the national news that Vermont was so important this year,” Rossi said. “It’s probably because of Mitt Romney.”