By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CHESTER, Vt. — The voters in Chester, Vermont, went straight down the line and approved all 22 articles on the town warning at the March 3 Town Meeting, including the budget of $4,225,000 that showed a 5.89% total increase over last year.
Town Manager Julie Hance gave a presentation on the budget, which is Article 6, sharing highlights of 2024 and what is being anticipated for 2025. Notably, she commented on how the public safety departments have been very busy this past year with “very limited staffing,” saying this is due to efforts in cross training. An example is that all police officers are first responders, and that there has been training with Fire and EMS that has dramatically decreased response times. Hance said that Chester has become a model for other communities around the state.
The presentation also included a brief rundown of each department, a brief overview of the proposed budget itself and the capital plan. Hance noted that the proposed budget does not include added programs or personnel.
“This budget represents a level service budget, not level funded, meaning with no new services added, this is the budget that it costs to run the town at current service,” Hance said. “No new programs. No new positions being proposed or added for 2025.”
The operations budget is an increase of 3.89%, which Hance noted is approximately the rate of inflation. There is 2% added onto this, as the town has the second half of the principal payment of the public safety building amounting to $88,000 thus making it a 5.89% increase.
“The 3.89% increase is basically cost of living increases, for salary, health insurance, those benefits,” Hance said.
Also approved at Town Meeting was Article 5, which was to borrow up to $70,000 for a police cruiser. After resident Charlie Baker inquired about the age of the vehicle being replaced, Hance said police cruisers have a life of four to five years due to the vehicles sustaining idle time. They are normally well over 100,000 miles when they are traded in, and this provides the best chance for a good trade in for the town.
Voters hit the poles on March 4 to vote for Article 1 through 4, and notably they approved a $2,982,000 sewer bond and a $1,140,000 million bond for the purchase of a solar photovoltaic generation facility located at the Jeffery Well site. The sewer bond, Article 3, passed 401-53 and the Article 4, the solar field bond, was passed 348-100.
Voters also approved Article 1 with a vote of 358-95, which approved the sum of $3,480,129 to defray current expenses for the ensuing fiscal year, and to pay outstanding orders and obligations.
Article 2 passed 406-50 and allowed for the town to use a $524,000 bond to go toward purchasing a grader for the Highway Department in the amount of $374,000 to be financed for a term of 10 years. The article states that paving sections of Flamstead Road in the amount of $150,000 would be financed for a term of seven years.
In the only contested race in town, incumbents Arianna Knapp and Tim Roper took the two seats for Selectboard garnering 336 votes and 350 votes respectively, beating Julian Sottovia’s 121 votes.
William Dakin was voted in as Town Moderator with 428 votes; Lee Gustafson ran unopposed for his selectboard seat and one with 399 votes; Courtlandt Pennell had 398 votes to win Trustee of Public Funds; Lora Cokolat, William Dakin and Donna McNeill-Hudkins won the Trustees of Whiting Library with respective vote totals of 359, 404 and 389; and Kathryn Murphy won the Green Mountain Unified School District Director race with 368 votes.
For a complete list of the warrant articles that were approved at Town Meeting log onto chestervt.gov/uploads/1/1/9/4/119456679/2025_corrected_warning.pdf.
