The Citizen - 1-5-23

Year in pictures

Top: A fall maple explodes with color.

Charlotte residents urge board to tackle speeding

LIBERTY DARR  STAFF WRITER

With budget season in full swing, the Charlotte Selectboard is feeling the pressure from residents to make speed-reduction solutions a top priority after the issue boiled over at the Dec. 27 selectboard meeting.

For some residents, excessive speeding has remained a consistent problem in Charlotte for more than 30 years. Until now, not much significant action by the town has been taken beyond approving

speed and traffic-calming studies. While good in theory, residents have said these studies provide little help to ensure safety in town.

Although amicable and cooperative some residents expressed a sense of urgency at the most recent board meeting.

The neighborhood group that has spearheaded nearly all the efforts for change presented a preliminary budget proposal for the costs of implementing recommendations from a recent traffic

Bus agency poised to bring back fares

Transit line needs to stabilize funding

COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER

Bus fares for Green Mountain Transit lines may return this year, potentially ending a pandemic precaution and providing a revenue source to an agency that for years has been searching for alternative ways to fund its operations more equitably.

As part of the transit agency’s fiscal year 2024 budget, fares would be restarted on all the bus lines throughout the county. Green Mountain Transit will hold a public meeting Jan. 10 and will consider approving the final budget Jan. 17.

While yet to be approved, the prospect of fare collection is renewing questions of how Green Mountain Transit — and transit bus systems throughout the state — should be funded, and whether the current system equitably distributes the costs associated

with keeping a county-wide bus system.

“There’s a structural issue with how we fund transit in Vermont,” said Jon Moore, the agency’s acting general manager. “Number one, there’s just an over-reliance on the property tax for everything, and number two, we’re providing a regional service which is funded locally and that just causes a lot of issues in terms of equity, in terms of making common-sense planning decisions.”

Green Mountain Transit has lines that run through every one of Chittenden County’s towns and cities — as well as commuter lines that run to Montpelier and parts of Lamoille, Franklin, and Grand Isle counties, for example — but collects an assessment fee from only eight municipalities in Chittenden County: Burlington, South

PHOTO BY LEE KROHN/FILE PHOTO

Above: A sign in front of Hinesburg’s town hall remind voters of a vote on the police budget. More photos follow on page 8

Enjoy Age Well meals at

Charlotte Senior Center

The Age Well meal pickup for Thursday, Jan. 5, is from 10-11 a.m., Charlotte Senior Center, 212 Ferry Road, and features roast pork, apple Craisin gravy, diced potatoes, Harvard beets, wheat roll with butter, pumpkin cookie and milk.

You must have pre-registered by the prior Monday with Kerrie Pughe, 802-425-6345 or kpughe@charlotteseniorcentervt.org

The Age Well meal pickup for Thursday, Jan. 12, features meatloaf with sauce, vegetable gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, dinner roll with butter, banana Craisin oat cookie and milk.

The suggested donation is $5.

County historical society presents talk on Abenaki erasure

On Sunday, Jan. 15 at 2 p.m. Ethan Allen Homestead Tavern hosts Vera Longtoe Sheehan, who will speak on “Abenaki Erasure, Eugenics and Ethnocide.”

Longtoe Sheehan is the executive director of the Vermont Abenaki Artists Association and a citizen of the Elnu Abenaki Tribe. The program is co-sponsored by the Ethan Allen Homestead Museum and the Chittenden County Historical Society.

All are welcome.

Age Well Christmas meal

A grab and go Christmas meal in Shelburne will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 72 Church St. from 11 a.m. to noon.

Age Well and St. Catherine’s of Siena Parish in Shelburne are teaming up to provide a meal to go for anyone age 60 and older. The menu includes meatloaf with sauce, vegetable gravy, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, dinner roll with butter, banana Craisin cookie and milk.

To order a meal, contact Sheryl Oberding by Wednesday, Jan. 4, via email at soberding@yahoo.com or by calling 802-825-8546.

Deadline to order is Thursday.

First-time patrons could provide name, address, phone number and date of birth. Bring a completed registration form or send one to: Age Well; 875 Roosevelt Highway, Suite 210; Colchester VT 05446.

Download the registration form ahead of time at bit.ly/3PUwdHN.

Lake Iroquois Ice-Out Challenge

Place a bet on when a concrete block will break through the ice on Lake Iroquois and win 50 percent of the pot.

Funds raised by the Ice-Out Challenge are used to improve water quality, protect the lake from invasive species and to support the Lake Iroquois Association Greeter and Boat Wash Program. This program inspects and washes boats entering and leaving the lake.

Tickets are $1 each, with discounts for 20, 30, 40, or 50 tickets. Entries will be accepted from late November through Wednesday, March 1.

Hinesburg hosts crosswalk improvement meeting

Join the conversation on Hinesburg crosswalk improvement on Thursday, Jan. 9, at 7 p.m. at the Hinesburg Town Office, either in-person or on Zoom.

The town is studying possible changes to the Route 116-Buck Hill Road intersection to slow address safety concerns and is looking for residents’ comments, concerns and ideas.

The town is also planning for the installation of flashing beacons at two existing Route 116 crosswalks. For details, visit bit. ly/3WVAkWg.

Hinesburg Nursery School hosts open house week

Curious about enrolling your child in the Hinesburg Nursery School preschool

program for the 2023-24 school year?

The school is hosting an open house the week of Monday, Jan. 16, through Friday, Jan. 20. Schedule a personalized visit and meet teachers at this community-based preschool.

To schedule, send an e-mail with some times that work well for you to director@ hinesburgnurseryschool.org. For more information visit bit.ly/3jEC8EC.

Charlotte church hosts community dinner Jan. 20

What are the many and varied reasons why you love Charlotte? What drew you here and why do you stay?

The Charlotte Congregational Church wants to hear from you during a community dinner on Friday, Jan. 20, at 5 p.m. There’s never been a more important time to share your thoughts on what matters. Save the date for a chili dinner and community conversation about the town.

For more information email charlottecommunityhands@.com.

PHOTO BY LEE KROHN

Storm damage along a trail at Mt. Philo State Park.

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By Vermonters.

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Total incidents: 37 Traffic stops: 21 Arrests: 0

On Dec. 27 at 4:20 p.m., a loose dog was turned into the police department and the owner was later located.

On Dec. 27 at 8 p.m., an officer responded to a business on

SPEEDING

continued from page 1

study for Greenbush Road. Each of the items on the proposal shows research and an equivalent cost analysis. The high-end estimate for implementing all the recommendations is nearly $50,000.

The most immediate solution is putting in four permanent speed humps estimated to cost $16,000.

“We’ve had the state police look at this over the last nine years that I’ve been on the board, and they’ve run their own speed studies and they also track the data of accidents,” said selectboard member Matthew Krasnow. “The roads in question are clearly safe roads by state police standards.”

“What we are responding to is citizens’ concern about a perception of a lack of safety based on

Hinesburg Police Blotter

Route 116 for the report of a disruptive customer making threats to staff members.

On Dec. 28 at 12:05 p.m., officers responded to Pond Road to investigate a traffic hazard.

On Dec. 28 at 12:20 p.m., a person was assisted with fingerprints for employment purposes.

On Dec. 28 at 1:05 p.m., officers

responded to Commerce Street to assist someone with a harassment complaint.

On Dec. 29 at 3:42 p.m., officers investigated a motor vehicle complaint on Route 116.

On Jan. 2 at 11:08 a.m., an officer responded to an animal complaint on Ballard’s Corner Road.

the actual rate of speed that drivers are driving, but the data does not support the assertion that these roads are dangerous,” he said.

One resident told the Citizen, “In 2021 and 2017, 12 days of speed were recorded in the 25-mph zone (on Greenbush Road). On each day, there were multiple vehicles traveling over 50 mph.

On seven of the days, 70 and up mph was recorded, once at 10 a.m. and the rest between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. — all at times of day that our children might be playing outside.

“Most neighbors limit our time walking on our road or being in yards alongside it simply because it’s unsafe.”

At the meeting resident JD Herlihy also expressed concern.

“Are we going to wait until there is a tragic accident that puts us over that status before we take action?” he questioned. “Is the board going to do that and does the board feel comfortable doing that?”

The nearly 20 minutes that followed were an arguing match between Herlihy and selectboard members with Herlihy concluding that “the board has a few choices to make. One of them is to do something and one of them is to not.”

“Hold it there. We have been working on this for three or four months. We are actively trying to solve this issue of traffic calming,” selectboard chair Jim Faulkner countered. “We are trying to figure out the budget so we can take action; we need some way to fund it.”

Nearly all the work on the issue has been initiated by Charlotte residents.

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About 12 neighbors have been actively involved in this current effort since September 2022. For some, that can total 10 hours to 20 hours each week, more if there’s a selectboard meeting that week. Others have made a personal financial investment on temporary signs, urging travelers to slow down, for example.

As budget discussions continue to solidify, selectboard members also discussed the possibility of increasing the amount for police enforcement in the town, a consistent problem for the town. Without their own municipal police force, increasing the budget for enforcement only works if the town can find another local department that will take up the extra task of patrolling the 80 miles of Charlotte roads.

“Maybe we can also come up with a number (on the budget) for ‘road safety items’ where we can pull out money to purchase signs, do speed humps, or whatever the board decides,” said board member Frank Tenney.

Another resident said that while official support has not always been obvious, they are now “grateful that after decades of delay, the current selectboard appears to be taking the town’s responsibility for public safety seriously.”

“Most neighbors limit our time walking on our road ... simply because it’s unsafe.”

Guest Perspective

John McClaughry

Disreputable politicians all too often assign deceptive labels to legislation to mislead voters who don’t pay close attention. A deplorable example of such mislabeling is the forthcoming Affordable Heating Act.

Affordable heating is the new label applied by the climateers to replace the clean heat standard bill that Gov. Phil Scott vetoed last May.

Now, with a veto-proof and disciplined 104-38 majority in the House, the Democrats are eager to pass a renamed bill whether Scott likes it or not.

Here’s how a leading climate and energy reporter describes it:

“Last year’s bill laid out a clean heat standard that would gradually transition home heating and cooling systems away from fossil fuels. Using a credit system, it would have rewarded entities — organizations, businesses and, in some instances, homeowners — who helped to reduce thermal fossil fuel usage in Vermont’s buildings.”

“A person who installed a heat pump, sealed and insulated a home to make it weather-proof or installed efficient appliances could earn credits as long as their project measurably reduced greenhouse gas emissions.”

“In turn, the measure would have established ‘obligated parties’ — fuel dealers bringing fossil fuels for heating into Vermont for sale — that would be required to buy or generate an increasing number of credits per year.”

There is nothing false about the foregoing description. It’s the Vermont Climate Council- approved description of the clean heat standard. The Democratic majorities are about to give it to us again as the Affordable Heating Act.

But maybe you should ask a few penetrating questions before rejoicing in the coming affordability.

Who operates this credit system and how does it choose and reward these lucky entities? Where will these obligated parties find the money to pay for this increasing number of credits per year?

Will the fuel dealers be fined if they don’t buy enough credits? Who will end up paying for that? How will my heating fuel bill be made more affordable?”

The answers to these questions are well known to the Vermont Climate Council and the climate interest groups that engineered its creation and are now represented on it. Let me translate for you.

“Our planet faces a climate crisis caused by emissions of carbon dioxide. People heating with oil, gas and propane cause a large part of these emissions.

Those people must be made to stop.”

“Simply banning petroleum fuels would cause resistance. So, we’ll assign the (unaccountable) Public Utilities Commission to come up with a schedule of funny-money credits and distribute them among people who reduce emissions, notably Efficiency Vermont.”

“Vermont’s fuel dealers will be told to earn or buy a specified number of credits as penance for delivering heating fuel. The required number of credits will be increased year after year. “

“To pay for these credits, your fuel dealer will have little choice but to increase the price you will pay for heating fuel. If fuel dealers fail to comply, the Public Utilities Commission will sock them with a ‘noncompliance payment’ equal to three times their credit deficit.”

“Oh yes, if you’re a certified low-income person you’ll get a subsidy to offset the higher fuel price. If you’re not such a person, you’ll keep paying more and more extra for winter heat, until you install undependable electric heat pumps or advanced wood heat systems or unload your home or business and move to a place where the government is not under the control of devious carbon taxers.”

Will all this cost and grief, over 20 or 50 years, have any detectable effect on any metric of the planet’s climate? Of course not. Meanwhile, just one of China’s new 1600 megawatt coal-burning power plants will pour out more CO2 than everything in today’s Vermont — heat, transportation, everything.

Unless you’re among the favored few, you’ll pay ever more for your heating fuel, after having been told that this act will exemplify Scott’s signature promise of keeping Vermont affordable.

On a radio show a week ago Scott was asked about the Affordable Heating Act. He said a new name won’t change the reality about what the failed legislation proposes.

“If lawmakers … call it by a different name, and if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck,” the governor said.

The governor will insist, correctly, that there must be a clear record vote in the Legislature to put this Affordable Heating Act into operation next winter.

But he has yet to brand it a regressive, fruitless, dishonestly labelled and unaffordable heating fuel cost increase on 65 percent of Vermonters.

One would hope that he will stand up and oppose this fraud from day one and rally the 70 percent of Vermonters who just voted to reelect him to stand with him.

John McClaughry is vice president of the Ethan Allen Institute.

If it quacks like a duck, it’s still the clean heat standard

’Twas a night or two … and it was cold as hell

Guest Perspective

Walt Amses

“All the snow has turned to water, Christmas Days have come and gone.”

— John Prine

The night before the night before Christmas had almost everything: snow, a rapid warmup and torrential rain accompanied by destructive gales; a precipitous temperature drop followed by sleet, freezing rain and finally 6 inches snow that fell wet and heavy, instantaneously flash freezing, locking us in a shimmering panorama of white, the texture and weight of iron ore.

What these nights didn’t have was any of the light celebrated for eons around winter solstice, a casualty of widespread power outages in Central Vermont.

Although losing power is nothing new if you live out in these decidedly rural places, exactly when it blipped off and how long it lasted provided the biggest challenges. We couldn’t recall being out of light during the darkest time of the year and it’s been years since we’ve lost power for multiple days, especially right before the holiday, disrupting plans that were fragile to begin with mainly because one of my finest attributes is procrastination, which doesn’t usually have much of an impact since I’ve gotten used to doing things at the last minute. Circumstances made this impossible, offering a unique opportunity to appear especially half-assed, of which I would soon take advantage.

Things certainly could have been way worse — a speed bump, nothing more. The luxury of having a woodstove nipped in the bud any notion of bedding down in the elementary school gym but came with its own set of issues. Our house — a hunting camp years ago that we’ve gradually renovated — is not logistically suited to having firewood anywhere convenient, hence the basement, which is dark even during the day.

Coupled with what I thought was an exorbitant price to pay for a flashlight, I find myself descending the creaky stairs immersed in mineshaft cold and eerie blackness save a disc of illumination hardly larger than a match would provide, barely enough to read.

And read we did, well into the night, classic literature for me: “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce, left unbrowsed since freshman year of college but for some reason ripe for revisiting. The two things immediately wrong with this scenario were that my perceived “late into the night” turned out to be 6:45 p.m., forgetting momentarily at this time of year darkness arrives midafternoon on cloudy days, and Joyce was so miserably steeped in his Irish Catholic boyhood that one of the few readily comprehensible sections of the book was a 13-page dissertation on hell, which as the dwindling fire signaled another trip to the basement, didn’t sound all that bad.

At least it was warm.

Sitting around, swapping holiday stories in the glow of candles, oil lamps and firelight takes a bit of the edge off, briefly easing anxiety until you walk 10 feet in any direction. With the outside temperature pushing zero, the wind still howling, and the exterior creaking, the house isn’t feeling so impermeable. With no sun to speak of for several days, anywhere other than directly in front of the stove is cold, exacerbated by a deepening darkness that sharpens the illusion of the walls gradually closing in around us. I soon find out we’re not alone in that regard.

During several trips in search of a cell signal I come upon two yearling loons in the ever-dwindling open water of Number 10 Pond, facing a far more desperate future than being unable to scroll the internet or crank up the thermostat. An hour later their plight crystalizes as I take a frigid walk past another pond less than a half mile away with more open water and one of the neighborhood eagles keeping sentry high above the fishing access.

Knowing the pond would ice over in a day or two and Baldy would be seeking sustenance elsewhere prompts me to make a couple of enquiries, hopefully setting the wheels in motion for a loon liberation. I learn that these are not the only loons in the area in the same fix and that they do not necessarily need a 100-yard expanse of water to hit the sky as I had previously believed. They can achieve liftoff from a much smaller space. I watch one try repeatedly but need to leave, missing his take off for parts unknown. But by midweek, plans are in the works to provide some human assistance for his still stranded buddy to do the same.

While we couldn’t fly south, we were luckier than lots of others. Our power sprang back to life late Christmas Eve, and we were able to shift plans with family and friends to the next couple of days as sleep-deprived linesmen continued struggling to reconnect customers.

This time between Christmas and New Year’s is back to tranquil, perfect for reflecting on the recent past or looking to begin a new chapter in the coming year. While I don’t generally make resolutions, several days without endless fonts of mostly useless information at my fingertips got me thinking about maybe fabricating a couple — for conversations sake, if I had one of my grudgingly sociable moments at a party invitation that I’d probably decline, but better safe than sorry. I decided to lie, outlining select items from my daily routine that would sound like fine resolutions if I didn’t already do them.

This little subterfuge makes me feel way better about myself than it should. I wouldn’t brag or overemphasize my expected achievements, which would easily pass for humility, always a good look. Speak softly but carry a big shtick.

“Oh, did I tell you, I’m reading James Joyce?”

Walt Amses is a Vermont writer.

Top left: Charlotte’s The Beerworth Sisters, Anna Pepin and Julia Beerworth, put out some new music this year.

Top right: Summer sunset at the Charlotte Town Beach.

Second from top: Champlain Valley Union High School seniors cheer on their classmates.

Above: Bob Kinzel, a longtime friend of Marshall Webb, eulogizes his friend at a celebration of life at the Breeding Barn at Shelburne Farms in October.

Second from bottom: Olympic bronze medalist Megan Nick arrives to Megan Nick Day in March with her father, Jeff,

and Tom Anger behind the wheel of a classic MG.

Left: Erin and Brian Just with their twins, Kit and Tate, seeing their picture for the first time in the Charlotte Energy Committee’s new interpretive sign at the solar-compost shed at Charlotte Central School.

OPPOSITE PAGE

Top: Fire and rescue vehicles from Hinesburg, Shelburne, Monkton and Charlotte helped residents and visitors celebrate the 4th of July in Hinesburg.

Middle left: Yvan Plouffe, a legendary

resident of Charlotte since he was 17, died Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. He was 84.

Middle right: Several Champlain Valley Union High School sports teams took the Penguin Plunge in March, jumping into an icy cold Lake Champlain to raise money for Special Olympics Vermont.

Bottom left: New stone steps on Mt. Philo are meant to offer distinct paths and promote stability and drainage.

Bottom right: The CVU Robo-Hawks, a robotics team at Champlain Valley Union High School, earned a trip to the 2022 FIRST Tech Challenge World Championship in Houston in April.

FILE PHOTOS

Looking back: CVU wins seven state titles in 2022

CORRESPONDENT

As we get ready to ring in the new year, it is time to take a moment to look back on 2022 and the success it brough Shelburne and Champlain Valley athletes.

Highlights from the year included seven state titles for the Redhawks, saying goodbye to a familiar face and welcoming a new one. But the biggest highlight of all included some Olympic glory.

Here are the highlights from 2022:

Megan Nick wins bronze medal in Olympic aerials

After qualifying for the 2022 Beijing Olympics, Megan Nick looked forward to soaking in the experience of her first Olympic games and doing her best on the hill. Instead, she surprised everyone with a performance to remember and some new hardware: an Olympic bronze medal in women’s aerials on Feb. 14, clinching her podium finish with a back full-double full on her final jump, for a score of 93.76.

Nick picked up aerial skiing as a student at Champlain Valley was the first Vermont native to medal in the aerials and the first American to medal in individual aerials since 1998.

Longtime AD retires, CVU welcomes new face

In the summer of 2022, longtime coach, teacher and activities director Dan Shepardson decided to retire after a 37-year career at both Northfield and Champlain Valley Union high schools.

Shepardson, who won nine state titles and nearly 200 games as a boys soccer coach, spent the last seven years as CVU’s activities director and was a mainstay at all Redhawk sporting events.

As Shepardson moved into retirement, a new face took his place: Ricky McCollum, who took the reins this summer and has quickly become a familiar face for CVU athletes, coaches and fans.

CVU beats Middlebury for first Division I football title

The high-powered Redhawk offense helped Champlain Valley Union High School football team to a spot in the Division I state championship game for the second year in a row. However, it was the defensive effort that clinched the 24-19 win over Middlebury and helped capture the program’s first DI state title.

CVU quarterback Ollie Cheer went 23 for 36 for 287 yards and completed passes to six different

receivers. Jack Sumner caught six for 89 yards and Alex Provost ran 69 yards on six catches. CVU went unbeaten in the regular season against Vermont opponents, with a 10-0 record.

CVU girls’ soccer team soars to title game mark

For the last two seasons, the Champlain Valley girls’ soccer team has been on the losing side of the DI state title scoresheet. This fall, the Redhawks snapped the skid and beat Mount Mansfield to win the championship.

Zoe Klein had the lone goal in the 1-0 win to help CVU win its four state championships in the last six years. Champlain Valley finished with a 15-0-1 record and the program’s 20th state championship, the most titles in state history in boys’ and girls’ soccer.

Field hockey team uses OT to win championship

For the first time since 2008, the field hockey team finished the season at the top of DI. The Redhawks scored a late goal in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 1-1 and send the championship game against South Burlington to overtime.

Miranda Oppenheimer netted the game winner in OT to set off a celebration for the CVU field hockey team as it captured the DI title.

Champlain Valley finished with a 15-2 record and the program’s third state championship.

CVU’s Gregory Seraus sets state record

Champlain Valley’s Gregory Seraus dashed into the record books and his team nearly ran its way to a state title.

Seraus set a new state record at the DI state track and field meet in the preliminary run of the 100 meters with a time of 10.76 seconds and then captured the individual state title in the event. The senior also won the 200-meter event.

The Redhawks boys’ track and field team nearly won the overall team title — coming in second overall to St. Johnsbury — after Seraus’ performance.

CVU girls’ cross country team wins again

The girls’ cross country team overwhelmed the rest of the state to capture the title, the program’s 13th crown in 14 years. Champlain Valley placed five runners in the top 10, with Alice Kredell leading the way for CVU, winning the individual state title and finishing nearly two seconds ahead of the runner up.

Estella Laird came in next, finishing in fourth. Audrey Neilson was seventh, Amelie Scharf came in eighth place and Lydia Donahue was 10th for the Redhawks. CVU saw its 12-year state title run ended last season when Burlington won the girls’ crown but, after just one year, the Redhawks returned to the top of the heap.

CVU boy’s lacrosse makes it nine in a row

Champlain Valley continued its dominance of DI boys lacrosse this spring, with another state title.

The Redhawks added to its cache of trophies, beating Burr and Burton 13-11 in the championship game to win its ninth straight title and 12th overall.

Matias Williams scored three times for the Redhawks, while Elliot added two goals and two assists. Nolan Shea, Peter Gilliam and Owen Pierce each tallied twice.

Champlain Valley alpine skiers sweep D-I titles

Last year, the Champlain Valley alpine skiers swept the DI state titles. In 2022, they repeated

the feat.

The Redhawks girls eked past Rice by one point to capture their second straight title, while the boys’ team dominated the competition to win its second in a row.

In the giant slalom, Carolynn Strobeck came in seventh, with Dicey Manning right behind her in 10th. Kate Kogut finished in 18th place and Elizabeth Nostrund rounded out the top four finishers with a 28th-place finish.

In the slalom Manning came in 10th, Strobeck followed in 13th,

PHOTO BY AL FREY

Ollie Cheer makes the grab in a game against Hartford this season. The footballers won their first-ever Division I title.

REDHAWKS

continued from page 10

Kogut finished 15th and Ella Lisle came in 20th.

Jake Strobeck was the top finisher in the GS, coming in second, while Ray Hagios was fourth and George Francisco at the ninth spot also finished in the top

10. Kyle Marvin was the fourth finisher for CVU, coming in 13th place.

In the slalom, Francisco was fifth, Hagios came in sixth, Peter Gilliam followed in seventh and Marvin was ninth.

PHOTOS BY AL FREY

Top left: CVU’s Zorah Ngu, a junior, battles for possession during a Redhawks game against St. Johnsbury in October. The girls snapped a two-year losing streak, taking a Division I state title this fall. Top right: Redhawk Nolan Shea rips a shot on goal during a game against the BFA St. Albans Bobwhites in April. The boys won their ninth DI title in a row. Left: A CVU relay member moves around the track at the state meet. The girls won this year’s DI title. Above: CVU’s fearsome foursome of Gus Serinese, Jackson Sumner, Hayden Berard and Gregory Seraus win the boy’s 4x100 meter relay at the Vermont Division I state track and field championships in June. Seraus set a new state record.

Below: For the first time since 2008, the CVU field hockey team won a state title, beating South Burlington in overtime.

Burlington, Hinesburg, Shelburne, Williston, Essex, Winooski and Milton.

Other towns pay minor contributions for service to their towns, like Jericho and Underhill, but GMT does not have the same power of assessment in those towns, so it’s a much lower level of local investment.

Local funds are also partially funded through Green Mountain Transit’s ABA program, which provides door-to-door service for disabled individuals that are unable to use normal bus lines. That is funded by usage and is not a uniform assessment for each town.

These assessment fees range as high as $2 million for Burlington to $50,000 in Hinesburg. The fees are increasing for each of the eight municipalities by 4 percent this year, Moore said, to offset costs such as fuel, labor, health insurance costs and other expenses.

But often, residents from towns that are not charged an assessment — like Richmond or Charlotte, for example — use the bus system. The Richmond Park and Ride, for example, draws residents from all over the region.

“For a number of years now, we’ve realized the way (GMT) is funded, through the urban assessments, is not really fair,” said Phil Pouech a Hinesburg selectboard member, newly elected state representative, and a commissioner on the GMT board.

Federal funding, meanwhile, provides more than 50 percent of operating costs, according to the preliminary fiscal year 2024 budget, and is disbursed based on population and demographic data.

However, that funding requires a local match, putting pressure on

the agency to match those funds with state and local funds.

Fares would fund roughly 10 percent of Green Mountain Transit’s budget, Moore said.

“The budget we presented to the board is balanced with about $2 million in revenue from fare collection. We do have some reserve funds, but we would basically exhaust all those for a one-year extension of the zerofare continuation,” Moore said. “Unless additional funds can be identified, it doesn’t seem like a good idea to continue the fare-free service.

“Unless we could identify some legislative funding from the State of Vermont, we are planning on resuming fare collection,” he said.

The transit agency is still feeling the lingering impacts of the pandemic. Transit lines in downtown Burlington are back to pre-pandemic levels, Moore said, but commuter routes like the 116 in Hinesburg are still experiencing as much as a 16 percent decrease in ridership from pre-pandemic numbers.

The reliance on local sources has long been considered ineffective, and efforts to lobby the Legislature for a more equitable distribution have come and gone for years.

“We’ve been thinking about this for 20 years,” Moore said.

“There’s been in the last 20 years at least five different studies looking at ways to fund the non-federal portion of transit service. Nothing’s materialized to date.”

But those efforts may be renewed in the coming months, as a new Legislature convenes this week.

Green Mountain Transit board commissioner Austin Davis of

Winooski stressed the need to engage with the Legislature and pursue statewide funding during GMT’s leadership committee meeting on Nov. 7, according to minutes from the meeting. Commissioner Catherine Dimitruk of Franklin County asked during the same meeting if there was interest among other transit providers to push the conversation of statewide financing study further, and commissioner Chapin Spencer of Burlington during the Dec. 15 finance committee meeting emphasized the need for continued progress on regional funding.

“Is there a statewide revenue source that could be identified to provide that 50 percent non-federal match to fund transit statewide?” Moore said. “That would alleviate the burden on the property tax. It would allow all transit agencies in the state of Vermont to continue not charging a fare and it would help maximize the leverage of the federal funds and potentially avoid future service reductions — or potentially expand service statewide in the future,” he said.

The agency last year introduced a study authored by the Chittenden County Regional Planning Commission to lawmakers and the Senate Committee on Transportation as an introductory overview.

The study, which can be read at bit.ly/3ICxHF1, lays out several funding alternatives, such as a statewide gasoline tax or a tax on vehicles purchased in the state.

“That’s the silver bullet — it would benefit GMT, it would benefit statewide transit agencies and customers, and it would also benefit local municipalities because we wouldn’t be coming for a $51K assessment,” Moore said.

CLASSIFIEDS

A

AD TRAFFIC & GRAPHICS/PRODUCTION

Part-time & Full-Time options

Ad Traffic/General Office Support

ad booking/data

liaison between

running reports

entry

support &

customer

attention to detail is a MUST

•

•

willingness to tackle tedious tasks when appropriate

a team player with a positive attitude

creating advertisements for print and web

• loading web & social media content

•

• design/layout software (Adobe Creative Suite, Quark)

attention to detail is a MUST

• a

team player with a positive attitude

Send a resume and cover letter to: Stowe Reporter, POB 489, Stowe VT 05672; katerina@stowereporter.com. No phone calls please.

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ARIES

March 21 - April 20

Sometimes you have to hold some things in to safeguard others from sticky situations. It can be tricky keeping secrets, but this week it is for the best.

TAURUS

April 21 - May 21

Taurus, there are a lot of people in your corner right now who are willing to pitch in when you need help. If you encounter an obstacle, just ask for assistance.

GEMINI

May 22 - June 21

Gemini, change your schedule or your scenery, especially if you feel like you are in a rut. All it may take is one modi cation to bring on an entirely new perspective.

CANCER

June 22 - July 22

If a person comes to you needing a friend in the next few days, resist the urge to offer advice. Simply listen and provide companionship. This is all the person needs at the moment.

LEO

July 23 - Aug. 23

Prioritize getting your nances in order, Leo. Make this one New Year’s resolution that you maintain; otherwise, you may have nancial troubles in the months to come.

VIRGO

Aug. 24 - Sept. 22

A few opportunities are coming your way in regard to your career, Virgo. Sort through all of the offers and gure out what works best for your situation.

LIBRA

Sept. 23 - Oct. 23

Libra, there is a lot of momentum around you, but for some reason you cannot nd your footing. Sooner than later you’ll nd your path and will be moving along.

SCORPIO

Oct. 24 - Nov. 22

Take charge of your priorities, Scorpio. It can be easy to get swept away in other people’s drama. Make a list of all the things you want to accomplish and start working.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 23 - Dec. 21

Sagittarius, people are expecting much of you this week, especially higher-ups at work. You may need to nd the motivation to keep going. The end result will be worth it.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22 - Jan. 20

Family time is a hot commodity for you right now, Capricorn. Even after the holidays, you have a few other events on the calendar that will bring relatives together.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 21 - Feb. 18

It can be dif cult to let things go and trust other people. However, the free time that you’ll get will enable you to tackle other items on your to-do list, Aquarius.

PISCES

Feb. 19 - March 20

If you are thinking about going back to school or learning a new skill, this is the time to do it, Pisces. Start shopping around for programs.

SUDOKU

Here’s How It Works:

Sudoku puzzles are formatted as a 9x9 grid, broken down into nine 3x3 boxes. To solve a sudoku, the numbers 1 through 9 must ll each row, column and box. Each number can appear only once in each row, column and box. You can gure out the order in which the numbers will appear by using the numeric clues already provided in the boxes. The more numbers you name, the easier it gets to solve the puzzle!

CROSSWORD

THANK YOU to the sponsors who helped make the magic of Winter Lights 2022 at Shelburne Museum!

Photograph of the Ticonderoga by Bob and Carol King.

SPECIAL THANKS TO ICE BAR SPONSORS BARR HILL, BURLINGTON BEER COMPANY, WHISTLEPIG WHISKEY, AND UNION BANK.