STARKSBORO — Starksboro will hold its annual meeting in the Robinson Elementary School multipurpose room on Saturday, March 2, at 9 a.m.
Voting by Australian ballot to elect town officers, and to approve the unified school district and regional technical school budgets, will take place on Tuesday, March 5, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., also at the Robinson School.
Starksboro voters are asked to approve $1,014,211 in General Fund spending for next year, an 8.7 percent decrease that’s due in part to the removal of a line item for paving, which since 2017 has had its own separate reserve fund.
Contributions to that Paving Reserve Fund would remain level at $40,000 next year. Funding for the Fire Equipment Reserve Fund would increase by 3 percent to $47,373, and contributions to the Road Equipment Reserve Fund would increase by 5 percent to $93,526.
If approved, the Starksboro Public Library would see a 4.3 percent increase in spending, to $30,000.
The selectboard is also asking to borrow up to $210,000 to replace a tandem dump truck next year. The loan would be repaid over five years from the Road Equipment Reserve Fund.
Funding for in-town requests would increase by 12 percent to $45,925. Among those requests, funding for the Starksboro Volunteer Fire Department would increase by $2,000 to $24,000, and funding for the Starksboro Sports Program would increase by $1,000 to $3,500. A request that was approved separately last year — $2,000 for the Starksboro Food Shelf — has now been folded into this list, as well.
Total out-of-town requests would remain level at $29,588.
A new budget item has been added to the town meeting warning this year: $3,000 for upkeep of the Starksboro Village Meeting House.
Each of Starksboro’s candidates for public office this year is running unopposed. For the selectboard, incumbent Tony Porter, two-year seat, and Nancy Boss, an open three-year seat. Current selectboard member Peter Marsh has decided not to seek reelection.
This year Starksboro does not need to choose members for the Mount Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD) board. Neither of the two seats that make up the town’s representation on that board are up for reelection.
The MAUSD board scheduled its own annual meeting for Feb. 26. On Town Meeting Day, Starksboro 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.