WHITING — Whiting residents from the floor of town meeting on Tuesday night returned incumbents to office and backed town spending.
Earlier in Australian balloting they joined the rest of the state in backing Sen. Bernie Sanders and President Donald Trump in the Vermont Presidential Primary.
The selectboard’s proposed $359,242.50 in spending for the upcoming fiscal year, of which taxpayers would fun $277,522.65, won support from the floor of town meeting without amendment.
Of that overall budget $212,650 would be devoted to road maintenance, according to the town report.
Among officials’ terms that expired on Tuesday were those of Selectman Steve Quenneville and Town Clerk Heather Bouchard.
Both were nominated from the floor to remain in office and were elected by voice vote without opposition.
On the Democratic primary side voting went Sanders, 46; Joe Biden, 18; Michael Bloomberg, 9; Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg, 5 each; and Amy Klobuchar and Andrew Yang, 1 apiece.
Whiting residents also weighed in on two at-large spots on the Otter Valley Unified Union School Board. Brandon resident Mike Lufkin won one of those positions, and Brandon’s Kevin Thornton won an at-large seat as a write-in candidate.
Whiting residents joined the five other Otter Valley Unified Union School District towns in approving a $20,377,427 school spending plan for 2020-2021; the tally was 1,098-877. It reflects a 2.22% increase in spending over the current year. Education spending per the state’s equalized pupil formula has per pupil spending increasing from $14,826 to $15,399, a 3.86% increase.
The education tax rate in Whiting is expected to rise 5 cents (or 3.5%) to $1.362 per $100 of assessed property value.