Town Meeting will take on a new look this year. With the coronavirus still having its grip on our country, the safest way to conduct Town business in a timely manner is through an Australian ballot. With the absence of the annual Town Meeting, it is important for us to explain as much as we can about what you will be voting on this year.
A hard copy of the Town Report is available on request as usual, and it is also posted online under: www.bridportvt.org , Information, general information, Town Report 2020
Ballots will be given on a “request only” basis for absentee voting, which is our normal practice, as well as the polls being open from 7am to 7pm on March 2nd, 2021. Ballots can be requested by calling the Town Office at 802-758-2483 or online at: www.bridportvt.org , documents/forms/applications, Early Absentee Request Form, or:
sos.vermont.gov , Elections, Election Info & Resources, Early & Absentee Voting
The ballots will be multiple pages of Town business due to the fact that all things voted on the floor of Town Meeting will now appear on the ballot. All elected Officer voting will be on one ballot and all monetary items will be on a separate ballot.
For those of you that do not normally attend Town Meeting, we vote on support for the Fire Department, Town Line First Response and then a multitude of social services requesting town funds for their operations. This will be covered in articles 2 through 31. All of the social services provide us with a statement or finance page letting us know what funds are used for and roughly how many Bridport residents benefit from their services, if known. These pages are in the Town Report.
Article 32 asks voters to support the Town spending $16,000 on a repeater that our emergency services (Bridport Fire Dept. and Town Line First Response) can use to enhance communication on their 2-way radios. Over the last several years, the bandwidth on the radios has narrowed (FCC mandate) to the point that an emergency responder on one side of town cannot hear someone on the other side of town. This makes responding to calls sometimes delayed and confusing for our volunteer responders.
Articles 33 and 34 are requests that the Town makes once every 5 years for tax exemption on the Bridport Grange Hall and the Bridport Historical Society properties.
Article 35 is a very important matter for our Town to consider. It deals with our Town’s financial structure and flow of cash that occur throughout the year. Bridport is among the minority of towns in the state still spending on a calendar year. The majority of towns operate on a fiscal year that begins on July 1st and concludes the following June 30th. This aligns with both the State and school fiscal calendar. Please see attached material for more details on how town finances are handled currently and our proposal on how we would like to handle them in the future. In the last few years, the bank has been less favorable towards a tax anticipation loan and would prefer us to arrange our cash flow through better alignment of revenue with expenses. The Selectboard has spent many hours of thought and discussion on this issue. We unanimously support Article 35. It will both spread out the tax burden on taxpayers as well as provide the Town with cash in a timely manner. The hurdle we have to cross is a conversion period of time which is a span of 18 months starting on January 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022. Whether you favor the change proposed in Article 35 or not, please cast a vote on both budgets, as we will not know the outcome of the vote to change fiscal schedules until after the elections. If article 35 is passed, the budget we vote on in 2022 will be a budget for 12 months beginning on July 1, 2022 and concluding on June 30, 2023.
Article 37 handles tax delinquency and interest charge on the delinquent taxes on the new schedule of tax payments, which will be Nov. 10, 2021 and May 10, 2022.
Article 39 is a request by the Selectboard to convert the Collector of Delinquent Taxes position from an elected position to an appointed position. This gives us the latitude to appoint and develop the best candidate for the position that we are able to find.
Article 40 is a request to ratify the Town of Ripton’s vote to withdraw from the Addison Central School District.
In addition to this letter and the supporting materials, the Selectboard will host a question-and-answer session on February 24, 2021 at 6:00 pm
Bridport Informational Meeting
Wed, Feb 24, 2021 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (EST)
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Town of Bridport Selectboard
Dated January 29, 2021 by the Selectboard members of the Town of Bridport.
Tim Howlett-Chair Joan Huestis David Bronson
Robert Sunderland Steve Huestis