SHOREHAM — Residents here will be asked to finance a new loader and will help decide a contested race for Middlebury’s three seats on the Addison Central School District board.
Shoreham has switched to a new accounting system in which all expenses and debts are reflected in the respective budget requests for highway and general fund services.
The  proposed fiscal year 2020 highway budget comes in at $881,589. That represents around a 4.4-percent increase to taxpayers, compared to this year’s spending plan, according to Selectman Will Stevens.
Shoreham officials are proposing a general fund budget of $358,817. If approved, this would translate into a 6-percent decrease in related property taxes compared to this year, Stevens said.
Other articles on Shoreham’s town meeting warning seek:
•  The creation of a “general reserve fund” to be used, at the selectboard’s discretion, for unanticipated expenditures.
•  The transfer of $10,000 in general fund balance to the newly proposed general reserve fund.
•  The shifting of $44,000 from the highway fund to the highway reserve fund.
•  Up to $75,000 to buy a 2019 John Deere loader.
•  A combined total of $23,793 to help fund a variety of nonprofits that deliver services to Weybridge residents.
There’s one contested local election this year, according to Shoreham’s Town Meeting Day ballot: Beth Davis and Maureen Gour are both running for a one-year term as auditor.
Those running unopposed this year include Will Stevens, town moderator, one year; Julie Ortuno, town moderator, one year; Kathleen Brisson, town treasurer, one year; Steve Goodrich, selectman, three years; Molly Francis and Peter Lynch, each for a one-year term on the selectboard; and Katie Flagg, library board, five years. There are currently no takers for two positions on the planning commission. Two grand jurors and a town constable will need to be appointed, barring write-in campaigns.
Shoreham voters will participate in a five-person race for three Middlebury seats on the Addison Central School District board. That race for the those three-year seats involves incumbents James Malcolm, Lorraine Gonzalez Morse, Steve Orzech, and challengers Betty Kafumbe and Ryan Torres.
Local voters will also cast ballots for ACSD board candidates Amy McGlashan and Mary Cullinane, running unopposed for three-year terms representing Ripton and Weybridge, respectively.
Proposed 2019-2020 spending for Shoreham Elementary School will be reflected in a global ACSD budget that voters will field on March 5. That budget proposal is for $37,794,916, to fund Middlebury Union middle and high schools, the ACSD central office and the seven member elementary schools in Bridport, Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham and Weybridge. The proposed ACSD budget reflects a 1.9-percent increase in local education spending and a 3.35-percent boost in spending per equalized pupil, compared to the current year.
If approved, the budget is expected to results in an education property tax rate of $1.5876 for Shoreham, up from the current $1.54, according to the ACSD’s fiscal year 2020 budget book.
Shoreham’s town meeting will be held at the local elementary school beginning at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 4. Australian ballot voting will take place at the town office from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5.