Haag Award
Bathroom diary
Committee looks for community leaders
‘Skip, skip, skip to your loo, my darlin’
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Volume 53 Number 3
POSTAL CUSTOMER
ECRWSSEDDM
shelburnenews.com
Chittenden schools ask legislators for fix
PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #217 CONCORD, NH
January 18, 2024
Free fishing
CLA impacting ‘dramatic’ tax rate hikes LIBERTY DARR AND COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITERS
School district officials are calling on the Legislature to take immediate action to help alleviate potentially devastating school tax rate increases expected for South Burlington and towns that make up the Champlain Valley School District, driven largely by the state’s newest common level of appraisal estimates that are
compounding the implications of Act 127. In a letter to the state delegation, school district members and city councilors in South Burlington say that the impact of Act 127 “paired with a drastic decrease in the CLA this year has resulted in an unprecedented proposed homestead tax rate increase of more than 18 percent in South See CLA on page 13
CVSD moves forward with $3.6 million bond Residents to vote on budget, bonds in March COREY MCDONALD STAFF WRITER
The Champlain Valley school board and administration are moving forward with a $3.6 million bond to complete previously approved infrastructure projects and are asking voters to OK the district’s borrowing for the work. The bond, if approved, would go toward financing a list of capital improvement projects throughout the district’s schools. Residents gave the green light for the projects in March 2022 when they approved $7.5 million bond. But local market pressures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic have driven costs up and slowed down the shipment of goods and materials, district officials said. “It’s a difficult ask when the community has already approved
these projects,” Gary Marckres, the district’s chief operations officer, said. “It was really beyond the district’s control with the scarcity of companies, the amount of work that was out there ... and the escalation amount.” The school board’s approval means the district will move forward with three ballot items for residents in March. If the $3.6 million bond is approved, the district will continue work on a list of projects, such as the roof of Champlain Valley Union High School, and an upgrade to the school’s HVAC system, among other items. Residents in the school district’s five towns will also have to approve short-term debt financing for new school buses, as well as a budget that officials say may See BOND on page 13
COURTESY PHOTO
Vermont’s free ice fishing day is Saturday, Jan. 27, with an ice fishing festival to be held at Elmore State Park. The day is geared toward giving new ice anglers an opportunity to try ice fishing before purchasing equipment, but any angler may ice fish on any waterbody open to ice fishing statewide without a fishing license that day, according to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. The festival will be held from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the state park on Lake Elmore. Fish and Wildlife staff, as well as instructors from Vermont’s Let’s Go Fishing Program, will be on-hand to teach ice fishing skills, including knot tying, baiting and using an ice fishing rod, and most important, how to stay safe on the ice. They’ll also operate a fish fry station to cook up participants’ catch, and there will be plenty of cocoa on hand. Registering online (register-ed.com/events/view/206074) will get people on the ice faster.
Pond Road paving controversy restarts LIBERTY DARR STAFF WRITER
The decades-old controversy about paving Pond Road resurfaced again this budget season and the Shelburne Selectboard is considering whether to study whether to pave it. For highway superintendent Paul Goodrich, the truth is simple: Paving will save the town money in the long run. But some residents have expressed serious concern over the environmental impacts of paving the 3-mile stretch of Shelburne’s last remaining gravel road.
Originally bounced around as a potential ballot item vote during this year’s Town Meeting Day vote, Goodrich came to the board to advocate for $400,000 to chip seal the road. “When it gets a few potholes on it, the homeowners and whoever else want to complain because of potholes and you can grade it today and it can rain tomorrow and you got the same pothole back,” he said. “This year, I mentioned a chip seal, which would be a bit cheaper to start with.” Due to the rising cost of gravel, Goodrich said he spent nearly $5,000 just last week to grade the
road. The highway department doesn’t own a grader, so the town utilizes one from the neighboring road commissioner in Charlotte, Junior Lewis. “Maintenance on a gravel road is just going to get as expensive as paving at the end of a 10-year period,” he said, adding that over the last nearly 50 years he has never had to ask permission to pave a road. “So that’s frustrating to me.” A vote to pave the road was put before the town nearly 10 years See POND ROAD on page 16