There were plenty of details about town meeting that are unique to Johnson, reflecting the kind of place it is in which to live. This week’s news will be the details of two major motions passed on Town Meeting Day. They weren’t included in the informative article last week.
• The budget discussion seemed pretty cut and dried. Then, with a reminder from the select board about upcoming expenses for dealing with the historic Scribner Bridge’s roadway problems from the Halloween storm, Walter Pomroy shook the earth by proposing that the budget be raised. Well known as a numbers guy who can crunch budget details and take expenditures to task, and lower whatever spending possible, Walter astounded everyone and possibly himself by suggesting that the two $37,500 payments to be made by the Historical Society be earmarked for repairs and maintenance of the town’s two covered bridges. (“I will wait for everybody to hit the floor,” he said.) $37,500 will be added to the 2020-21 budget. The motion was enthusiastically received by voters, who passed the budget of $3,045,782. Of that, $1,897,434 will come from property taxes; $1,016,612 will come from revenue sources other than property taxes; and $131,735 from last year’s budget will become part of the 2020-21 budget to reduce the tax hit.
• A sore subject for many Johnson taxpayers has been the financial results of joining the Lamoille North school district: It hasn’t been rosy. Walter Pomroy cited several facts to support his motion that voters ask the select board to call a special town meeting to decide whether Johnson should withdraw from the Lamoille North Modified district.
Mark Nielson remarked that withdrawing from the district is “quite a mountain to climb,” though possible, and there are penalties for doing so. Greensboro has already begun the process to remove itself from a regional district.
The reasons for the motion were stark facts. Walter compared the results in Johnson and Cambridge, which did not join Lamoille North. Cambridge is dealing with the same state mandates and insurance rates but has fared much better than Johnson in terms of spending and taxes. Johnson has a larger student-to-teacher ratio than Cambridge but a higher per-pupil cost; that cost is within $500 of crossing the state’s spending threshold, which would result in disastrous tax hikes. Considering the elementary school alone, Johnson’s tax rate has risen 24 cents per $100 of property value in four years. In the budget adopted last week, Cambridge’s per-pupil spending will be $16,816 and Johnson’s will be $18,278. When the merger happened, Cambridge’s per-pupil spending was $13,816 and Johnson’s was $13,961.
There is also unhappiness that so much local control has been lost over what happens at the school, such as the near-closing of the school on weekends.
A great deal more conversation occurred around this weighty subject and at 3:15, when folks were tiring, one desperate citizen finally asked for a vote. By a large majority, they favored considering whether to withdraw from the district.
It’s reassuring to see a good crowd of citizens engaging in the democratic process. It’s reassuring to see a group of young Boy Scouts, tomorrow’s engaged citizens, taking seriously their duty of bearing the colors. It’s good to meet new folks in town attending their first town meeting with the intention to be involved.
The attendance “speaks well for the town,” said Moderator David Williams. Warm and fuzzy? Maybe. Comfort in knowing democracy is functioning just as it should? For sure.
The Conservation Commission’s March Gladness continues this Sunday, March 15, with a talk about bats by Noel Dodge, whose stories of work among birds and bats are captivating. Noel promises plastic bat poop, too, which is a perennial favorite among the kids. It’s at 1:30 at the library.
Last Sunday’s introduction to growing and identifying mushrooms was fascinating. Who knew there is one mushroom in Oregon that covers 24,000 acres?
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