NEW HAVEN — New Haven’s 257th annual town meeting will take place Monday, March 4, at 6:30 p.m., at the New Haven Town Hall. Voting by Australian ballot to elect town officers, and to approve the unified school district and regional technical school budgets, will take place in the same location Tuesday, March 5, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voters are asked to approve FY2019 Road Fund spending of $1,770,098, a 52 percent increase over last year with a similar increase in tax burden.
Three major projects account for the increase, according to selectboard chair Steve Dupoise:
•  updating the Beaver Creek culverts on Quaker Village Road.
•  paving Dog Team Road, which has been neglected for the last 60 years.
•  paving both the east and west ends of River Road.
New Haven General Fund spending, if approved, would decline by about 1 percent to $722,367.
Voters are also asked to OK expenditures from the Road Equipment Fund — up to $145,000 for a new tandem truck and body — and from the Reserve Facilities Fund — up to $30,000 to continue work on drainage-related issues around the town hall.
Twenty-two additional articles address smaller appropriations totaling $25,458, an increase of about 1 percent over 2018.
Selectboard members Kathleen Barrett (three-year term) and Steve Dupoise (two-year term), along with town treasurer Barb Dorian, will face election challenges this year. Former selectboard member Doug Tolles is running against all three.
New Haven resident Andrew Morton is running unopposed to keep his seat for a three-year term on the Mount Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD) board.
MAUSD had scheduled its own annual meeting for Feb. 26. On Town Meeting Day, New Haven residents voting on town business will also, along with residents of four other school district towns, be asked to adopt a $30,950,235 MAUSD budget — an 8.17 percent increase per equalized pupil.