BRIDPORT — Bridport residents approved everything on their 2019 town meeting warning, including a request to take out a five-year loan of up to $220,000 to buy a new Tandem dump truck.
Bridport Town Clerk Valerie Bourgeois said 169 of the community’s 906 registered voters casted ballots on Town Meeting day.
Participants at the annual meeting agreed, by voice vote, to tax themselves a combined total of $1,081,259 to pay for highway and general fund services for fiscal year 2020.
They also passed articles seeking:
• $12,500 for their local fire department.
• A combined total of around $45,000 for a variety of Addison County nonprofits that deliver services to Bridport residents.
• A collection fee of 30-percent on lot sales in order to perpetually pay for local cemetery maintenance.
There were no contested local elections in Bridport this year.
Those running unopposed included Tim Howlett, one year, as town moderator; Tim Howlett, two years, as selectman; Joan Huestis, three years, as selectwoman; Robert Coffey, three years, as auditor; Vicki Major, three years, as lister; Jim Craig, one year, as First Constable; Bruce Stocker, one year, as Second Constable; and Jim Craig, one year, as collector of delinquent taxes.
Bridport voters also got to weigh in on a five-person race for three Middlebury seats on the Addison Central School District board; ballots cast in all seven ACSD-member towns were co-mingled and counted to decide the winners. Local residents also cast votes on a K-12 public education budget of $37,794,916 to operate ACSD schools for the 2019-2020 academic year.