Town meeting and voting day is a time honored tradition in Vermont. Here in Bennington, this will be our 262nd town meeting, with our first one being in 1762.
At its Jan. 22 meeting, the Bennington Select Board signed the Warning for the Annual Town Meeting scheduled for March 4 with the vote on March 5, 2024.
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At its Jan. 11 regular meeting, the Select Board finalized the FY22 budget to be placed before the voters. The Board will meet on Jan. 25 to adopt the budget and sign the Annual Town Meeting Warning. The General Fund which includes all administrative offices, the Police Department, Recreation and all agencies receiving funds from the town by being placed in the budget (the two libraries, Rescue Squad, North Bennington Recreation, and Lake Paran) is increased only 2.19 percent. The Highway Fund is increased only 0.33 percent and the Fire Fund (the Bennington Fire Department) is decreased 0.17 percent. Combined, the total increase is 1.58 percent. The estimated tax rate for the combined budgets ranges from $1.2675 to $1.2710 depending on Grand List growth and other revenues. This is an increase of just over 2 percent.
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BENNINGTON â The Select Board has turned down a request to waive a policy of requiring voter petitions if a nonprofit service organization seeks a higher annual allocation from the town.
At its meeting last week, the board also placed on the March 2 town ballot a referendum forced by an earlier petition drive to gather the signatures of at least 5 percent of registered voters â or about 500.
That was in favor of a proposed charter change allowing Bennington to switch to a mayoral form of government.
Town Manager Stuart Hurd had previously mentioned to the board that an organization sought to raise its prior ballot request but did not want to conduct a petition drive during the COVID-19 epidemic.