Susie Houston talks to voters at the Craftsbury town meeting.
CRAFTSBURY — Just shy of 200 Craftsbury residents gathered at 9 a.m., March 5, in Craftsbury Academy’s World War II Memorial Gymnasium, a substantially higher number than in recent years. After electing Jeannine Young as moderator, the town school district kicked things off.
Craftsbury School Board Chair Kasey Allen noted in this year’s budget summary, “Planning for the community’s educational needs was really challenging this year,” with Craftsbury’s Common Level of Appraisal (CLA), Act 127, loss of pandemic funds, and rising costs conspiring to cloud the budgeting picture. Given this, the Craftsbury School District opted to amend the warned budget on the floor, reducing the initial by over $350,000 from $5,703,092.09 to $5,341,462.23. The reduction lessened expenditures on the capital fund, technology supplies, and student field trips and extracurricular activities, while largely maintaining level funding in core areas.
The amended budget passed, with 132 in favor and 41 opposed. The specter of challenges related to education funding and planning is not likely to be a one-off for this budget year; however, and school board member Cedar Hannan put a plug in for the community to participate in a newly-formed Craftsbury School Board long range planning effort, with a subcommittee actively working and community forums planned for this spring.
In other school district news, Jared Nunnery’s term ended and Isaac Jacobs stepped in to fill the otherwise uncontested seat. Current Principal Matt Foster announced his resignation to the community. After finishing out this year, he will be stepping into the role of superintendent for the Caledonia Central Supervisory Union. A search committee is actively at work for the next principal of Craftsbury Academy.
At the Craftsbury Town meeting, Bill “Spaceman” Lee and Moderator Jeannine Young draw a winning raffle ticket for a baseball game.
The town meeting portion of the day kicked off around noon, with Craftsbury Academy juniors and French students supplying food to the crowd by donation. After electing Jeannine Young as moderator for the second half of the day, the town got down to business.
The town gave veteran select board member Susie Houston hearty thanks for almost two decades of service. Alison Blaney was elected to her first term on the select board, replacing Houston.
Introducing the town budget in Article 4, Co-Chair Bruce Urie noted that, for the town, this year was all about the summer flood, both in the immediate response and recovery. He said he was proud that all town roads, but for one, were passable less than a day after the deluge and credited the tireless efforts of Craftsbury’s road crew and responders, including Kent Young, who was celebrated by the community as he retires from his duties. The $648,292.17 budget passed handily, with 107 in favor and 7 opposed.
Article 5 passed easily, authorizing fire department operating expenses of $65,000.
In discussion over Article 6, small fire department stipends totaling $10,000, Chief Jeremiah McCann noted that “firefighters aren’t doing it for the money and are in it to serve the community in times of need, but that it was nice when you are roused in the night or leave work early that you aren’t going to fall in a financial hole,” and drew a round of appreciative applause from the crowd.
As the town ticked through the appropriation articles, Craftsbury residents expressed near uniform support for the variety of local and regional entities requesting funding support, a sampling of which included the Craftsbury Public Library, Craftsbury Community Care Center, Hardwick Area Food Pantry, and Orleans Essex V.N.A and Hospice.
Article 9, funding of Craftsbury Saplings Childcare Center, drew debate, with some community discussion on a decrease in the appropriation. This amendment to decrease funding failed, with a strong voice vote to approve the expenditure of $6,000 supporting the community benefits of local childcare.
Ultimately, with town operating expenses, fire department expenses, loan expenses, and various town appropriations, the total voted budget stood at $979,834.48.
The last big ticket item debated by the community fell under Article 16, an article changing how to elect town officers by Australian ballot instead of from the floor as has been done until now. While a number of commenters advocated for the change to enable more residents to vote on town affairs, others were leery of the loss of in-person discussion and interaction and the unintended consequences inherent in plurality voting. Ultimately, the article passed, with 60 in favor and 29 opposed. It was not lost on the crowd that the smaller voting tally was a far cry from the morning votes of nearly 200, reflecting the challenge of an all-day meeting for many residents.
The meeting adjourned at around 3:30 p.m., closed by nonbinding announcements including Dave Rowell’s invitation to his annual barn dance on May 18, a fundraiser for the Craftsbury Public Library, East Craftsbury Library, and Craftsbury Chamber Players. As community members stacked up their chairs and cleared the gym, last lingering greetings and conversations moved to the door and wrapped up the long day of Craftsbury Town and School District Meetings until 2025.
