GOSHEN — Goshen residents will consider small changes in their town and highway budgets during this year’s town meeting — both will see decreases.
After the customary 5:30 p.m. potluck at Goshen Town Hall on Monday, March 5, voters will gather at 7 p.m. to decide whether or nor to pass a general fund spending plan of $229,253, a 1.5 percent decrease from last year’s approved budget of $232,817.
They will also consider highway spending plan that is $1,500, or 0.7 percent lower than last year’s road budget; the figure up for vote this year is $209,200. 
When Goshen residents return to town hall for Australian ballot voting from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday they will see a sparse slate of candidates for town offices. The biggest hole they will be filling is a gaping one — selectboard chair and town moderator Kevin O’Classen died this past Dec. 25. Jeff Whiting, who served as moderator at last year’s town meeting when O’Classen was unable to lead the meeting, is running for the spot of town moderator. Diane O’Classen, Kevin’s widow, has filled in on the selectboard since his passing; but she chose not to run for the post on Town Meeting Day; instead she will be on the ballot for trustee of public funds. No one has stepped forward to run for the open three-year term on the selectboard; a write-in candidate must receive 1 percent of the registered voters; that means at least two votes.
Current Second Constable Shawn Martin’s name is not on the ballot for that spot, but Town Clerk Rosemary McKinnon said he would like to retain that spot and hopes to get a few write-in votes to secure it.
Goshen is also looking for a representative to the board that oversees Otter Valley Unified Union School District, which includes the towns of Goshen, Brandon, Pittsford, Sudbury, Leicester and Whiting. There are no candidates on the ballot, and a write-in for this post would have to get at least 30 votes to legally qualify. McKinnon said that if no one is written in for the spot, she may consider offering herself to the school board to be a school director for a year.
Residents will also vote on the OVUUSD budget via Australian ballot on Tuesday.
Voters will be asked to approve $19,223,835 OVUUSD spending plan, which represents a roughly $550,000 cut in spending, or 1.22 percent, from the current budget.