LEICESTER — Leicester residents will start their town meeting at 7 p.m. at the Leicester Meeting House on Monday, March 6, to weigh school and town budgets. Voters will decide on a municipal spending plan of $629,915, which represents an increase of $34,724, or 5.8 percent, over the $595,191 in spending approved at the 2016 town meeting.
The municipal budget was warned in two parts: general expenses and highway expenses. The selectboard had asked for $283,581 for general expenses with $236,779 to be raised by taxes, and $346,335 for highway expenses with $234,487 to be raised by taxes. Compared to the budgets approved last year, these figures represent slight decreases of less than $1,000 in taxes to pay for general expenses and around $7,000 in taxes to pay for highway expenses.
Also at Monday’s meeting, residents will be asked to OK spending an additional $20,000 for road paving.
Members of the selectboard at the meeting will ask residents to authorize them to appoint a first and second constable.
In Australian ballot voting at the Leicester town office from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., residents will vote on around a dozen town offices, a couple school board members and the school budget.
The terms of three selectboard members expire after town meeting: Tom Barker, John Rouse and Ron Fiske. Voters will elect three selectboard members: one for a three-year term, one for a two-year term and one for the remaining year on a two-year term.
Other offices up for election for three-year terms are auditor, town clerk and town treasurer. Offices on the ballot with one-year terms include delinquent tax collector, grand juror, town agent and moderator.
Leicester residents will also vote for four school directors for the Otter Valley Unified Union School District — with one contested race. On the ballot will be Angela Ouellette running unopposed for a three-year term representing Leicester. Local voters also will cast ballots for three at-large school board members — two candidates are facing off to finish the remaining two years on a three-year seat, Barbara Ebling and Eileen Guyette; plus two candidates for two three-year seats are running unopposed, Emily Nelson and Matt Philo.
A meeting for the OVUUSD, comprising the towns of Leicester, Goshen, Brandon, Pittsford, Sudbury and Whiting, took place on Wednesday, March 1, (after deadline for this issue of the Independent) at Otter Valley Union High School. Among other items, attendees elected a moderator, clerk and treasurer.
On Tuesday, March 7, by Australian ballot at town hall, Leicester residents will vote on the proposed school budget for the unified district, which set total spending of $19,772,608. If approved, education spending would increase to $14,708 per equalized student, which is 1.47 percent higher than spending for the 2016 fiscal year.