Chilmark School principal Susan Stevens announced she will be retiring after this school year. The announcement was made during the Up-Island Regional School Committee meeting on Monday, October 16. Stevens has been the Chilmark School principal since 2009 and led the up-Island school through the COVID pandemic. The principal told The Times she spent 33 […]
Members of the Up-Island School District came to the Aquinnah select board with two projects in mind during Tuesday’s Zoom meeting: funding for Chilmark School’s heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, and West Tisbury’s roof. Select board member Juli Vanderhoop could not attend the meeting because she was holding her “Honey Talk” event through […]
The Martha s Vineyard Times
To the Editor:
For the past 10 years, the West Tisbury finance committee has written an opinion editorial prior to the annual West Tisbury town meeting. Recommendations are the result of discussion within the finance committee, and from information we gather by attending the meetings of the capital improvements committee, the school committees, the select board, Community Preservation committee, and other boards and committees whose work impacts our town’s annual budget. Each year the discussions have become more complex as our town grows, and with that growth comes the need and desire for more services.
In 2004, our annual town budget was approximately $10,000,000. As of late February 2021, the budget for West Tisbury stands at well over $20,000,000. Our town budget is growing far faster than inflation, and at a faster rate than the town’s population. The FY2022 proposed budget will increase further, dependent on the number of warrant