Waterbury voters to weigh in on long list of spending requests
February 22, 2022 | By Lisa Scagliotti Another Town Meeting Day will come next week without the customary in-person gathering in the primary school gym, but Waterbury voters still will get to have their say on town spending for the next year as it’s broken down in multiple questions on the ballot.
The annual town report is posted online at WaterburyVt.com and hard copies are available around town at Maplewood, Kinney’s, Peoples Bank, VSECU, Billings Mobil, True Value Hardware, both post offices, the town offices entry and the Waterbury Public Library. Photo by Gordon Miller
Like many communities around Vermont, Waterbury will forego the traditional meeting given ongoing concerns for the COVID-19 pandemic. This month, Waterbury continues to log several dozen new cases of the virus weekly and, as in 2021, the state has given municipalities the option to conduct all business usually voted on in person by paper ballot instead.
The Waterbury Select Board along with Municipal Manager Bill Shepeluk will host an informational meeting and presentation Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. that the public may tune into via Zoom. The agenda is posted on the town website homepage at waterburyvt.com with details on how to connect. People will have the opportunity to ask questions to clarify details they want to know before voting.
Meanwhile, early voting has been possible at the town clerk’s office or by mail if voters requested ballots. With election day just days away, mailed ballots may arrive too late. Anyone may vote at the town offices through Monday, Feb. 28.
On Tuesday, March 1, the polling place will be set up at Brookside Primary School from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Taxes rate remains steady
Aside from electing town and school officials, most of the ballot items pertain to the town budget for 2022 which follows the calendar year. On Article 6, voters will be asked to approve general fund, highway, and library spending for a total of $6,482,625.
The tax rate gets set in the summertime but what is needed to support the budget is likely to remain quite similar to last year’s rate. The budget article calls for voters to authorize a tax rate of 53 cents per $100 of assessed property value. That is the same amount voters approved in 2021. Last year, when overall property values were calculated, the grand list total came in higher than expected and the tax rate was set at 52 cents. Shepeluk said that could easily be the case again this year.
Article 5 asks voters to authorize spending just under $1.7 million from capital spending reserves for vehicles and building maintenance and improvements this year. That requires no new spending.
Town begins to spend ARPA funds
The town budget for this year aims to keep services level with some additions.
One area that town officials have begun to consider is how to spend the $1.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds the town will receive. The town already has received half of that sum with the other half anticipated later this year.
The proposed budget includes allocating $100,000 of the APRA money to make up for lost revenue in the previous year’s budget due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another budget line would allocate $600,000 of the ARPA funds to the Edward Farrar Utility District to use to upgrade and acquire the water system in the Kneeland Flats Mobile Home Park. The neighborhood is already a customer of the municipal water system but the infrastructure in the park is privately owned. If that amount exceeds the cost of improving the park’s system, any residual could be used to upgrade water lines along Route 100, Shepeluk said, given that the funds may be used for infrastructure such as public water and wastewater systems.
Looking ahead this year, Shepeluk has floated the proposal to ultimately incorporate the entire utility district into the town government to essentially become a water and wastewater department. The district was formed in 2018 after the Village of Waterbury municipality was dissolved. The other main function of the village government was to operate the village police department which was closed. The town now contracts with the Vermont State Police for police services.
EFUD and town officials last year discussed a proposal to turn over to the town properties still under EFUD ownership that were part of the village. Parcels such as Rusty Parker Park, the park areas near the Ice Center, and the public parking lot on Elm Street have no role in the utility district’s operations.
Since then, Shepeluk has suggested not just shifting ownership of those properties but to combine the utility district with town government, including its properties and the loan funds it administers to assist businesses. That process may also involve creating a charter for the town which would need to be approved by the state legislature and would be something town officials would take up later this year.
Shoring up the Ice Center
A separate proposal to spend another $100,000 of the federal ARPA funds is on the ballot as its own question. Article 7 asks voters to approve giving the sum to the Ice Center to help it weather financial hurdles since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
The nonprofit ice rink experienced closures and restrictions on its use in the past two years. The pandemic has also hit at a time when it has had multiple equipment issues that need to be addressed. The result has been depleted cash reserves and a new federal loan to help with cash flow. Replacement of a cooling tower and repairs and replacement of a dehumidifier unit and furnaces will total nearly $100,000, Ice Center President Jonathan Siegel said.
He and other members of the Ice Center’s board of directors told the select board that the $100,000 could help replenish the center’s capital reserve account. They explained how the center before the pandemic aimed for breaking even from year to year. For example, in the last budget year before the pandemic, fiscal year 2018-19, expenses came in at roughly $466,000 with revenue of about $477,000, Siegel said.
In his report to the community in the town annual report, Shepeluk praises the center’s managers for steering through the difficult time. He points out that the center as a nonprofit organization has not relied on any taxpayer funds in its 18 years of operation.
Shepeluk said he believes the center is worth the investment given its role in the community. “Untold numbers of youth and adults alike have used and enjoyed this facility over the past two decades. Local businesses benefit as the influx of visitors to the rink spill out into our downtown and beyond to buy gas, shop, visit restaurants and perhaps spend a night or two in a local hotel,” he writes. “I hope voters will see this as an opportunity for the town to invest in this important community facility, especially when the investment can be accomplished at no cost to local property taxpayers.”
Article would fund recreation planning
Article 8 on the ballot puts a decision about long-range recreation planning in the voters’ hands. It requests allocating $50,000 for master planning for both the Hope Davey Park in Waterbury Center and the River Road park property where the Ice Center is located along with access to mountain bike trails, the dog park and a spot targeted for a new skateboard park.
Groups of residents supporting a myriad of recreational activities have weighed in in support of looking at how multiple uses could be accommodated at both locations. Hope Davey, for example, is already popular as a spot for picnicking, soccer, skateboarding, disc golf and more.
The River Road property has been developed over the years in a piecemeal fashion with attention now needed as new uses are contemplated to fill in undeveloped areas.
Town officials have suggested hiring a planning consultant to review both areas to help map out the best ways to accommodate the wide range of uses that appeal to residents and visitors alike.
Supporting community services
The ballot also lists individually a multitude of contributions to local and regional community and social service organizations that taxpayers support each year. The 26 separate articles total $57,900. The largest single item is $20,000 to the Waterbury Area Senior Center which is in addition to $12,500 contained in the general fund budget.
Other examples of contributions include $7,325 to Green Mountain Transit, $4,000 to The Children’s Room, $3,000 to Washington County Mental Health and $2,500 to the Friends of the Waterbury Reservoir.
Correction: This story was updated to correct the amounts for the Ice Center revenue and expenses for FY2019.