Town Meeting traditions return

Voters to weigh in on budget increases

BY JASON STARR Observer staff

Town Meeting Day will return to its pre-pandemic tradition as an in-person gathering of town voters March 6 followed by all-day ballot voting March 7.

Miles for his many years of town service. Why did you choose to run for a seat with one year remaining on it instead of one of the longer-term seats? If elected, how long do you envision serving on the board?

BECKETT: There wasn’t too much behind the decision for the one-year versus the other seats. I knew Terry was running for re-election for the two-year seat. I knew Jeanne was interested in the three-year seat, and at the time, I didn’t know of anyone else interested in the one-year seat.

If elected, I hope I earn the respect and trust of Williston residents, and I have every intention of running for re-election at this time next year for the full three-year term.

ISHAM: The vacant seat was from an incumbent that represented rural Williston, and I believe it’s important that we maintain a rural aspect to the selectboard. I have no aspirations of moving up higher in office. I believe that everyone has the right to run for a local seat in politics, keep the national politics out of it.

This is exciting for me and a new passion, as I believe that my private enterprise spirit is missing in local town politics today.

A new housing needs assessment for Williston suggests easing or eliminating the town’s growth management system to encourage more housing development.

Do you think Williston needs more affordably priced homes and, if so, what strategies do you support to achieve that?

BECKETT: Yes, Williston needs more affordably priced homes, and I support the aim of the growth management system. We need to ensure the pace of growth doesn’t exceed the ability to manage it.

However, there are unintended consequences resulting from how the growth management system is currently implemented. It creates clear winners and losers, and I’m open to changing components of the calculation.

As it stands, only large developers who can afford to sit on a property for 10-plus years before developing it are the winners. This results in the development of only the large single-family home neighborhoods that we see today, and that’s not the type of housing that our community needs.

The town’s Housing Needs Assessment showed that 61 percent of Williston households have only one or two people, but 66 percent of Williston homes have three or more bedrooms. We need to encourage a variety of housing options so the town’s housing types better match the town’s households.

Of the recommendations in the assessment, I support exploring the following that would have minimal unplanned impact on services: the adaptive reuse of existing office buildings into housing; inclusionary see BECKETT/ISHAM page 2

The Williston Central School auditorium will host the town’s Annual Meeting, beginning at 7 p.m. March 6, when town officials will conduct an informational presentation on their $13.9 million budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year. Earlier that evening (5 p.m. start), the Champlain Valley School District will host its Annual Meeting at CVU High School in Hinesburg with school administrators presenting their $96.1 million annual budget proposal.

The following day, March 7 — for those who have not voted early polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for walk-up voting at the National Guard Armory at 7846 Williston Rd., next to Town Hall.

The town’s nearly $14 million budget would increase spending by 6.3 percent ($830,000) over the current year’s budget, which had its own increase of 14 percent over the previous year. The increase is projected to result in a property tax increase of 3.23 cents, which amounts to an additional $32 for every $100,000 of assessed property value.

The increase is driven by inflation, according to town administrators, and an increase in sidewalk snow plowing capacity and staff hours at the library and in the finance department.

Also on the ballot is a question whether the town should purchase see TOWN MEETING page 5