CONWALL — Cornwall residents on Town Meeting Day will decide a two-person race for a two-year term on their selectboard, and they’ll also field a resolution urging the Legislature to act on an effort to institute universal access to primary care in Vermont.

Incumbent Shawn Fetterolf and challenger Barbara Greenwood are vying for the two-year term on the selectboard.

There are no other contested races on the Cornwall ballot this year. Incumbent Brian Kemp is unopposed for another three-year term on the panel.

The proposed health care resolution asks the following: “Shall the voters of Cornwall call upon the General Assembly to discuss, take testimony, and vote on H.433 during the 2026 session? H.433 is an Act Relating to Incremental Implementation of Green Mountain Care that would establish publicly financed universal primary care, mental health services and substance use treatment as a first step in phasing in universal healthcare for all Vermont residents.”

Cornwall residents will be asked to adopt a fiscal year 2027 general fund budget of $617,359, up 12.6% from last the current $548,081 spending plan.

The proposed FY27 highway budget comes in at $611,298, up 18.6% from the current $515,050 spending plan. Departments statewide have been hit hard by inflation and road salt shortages during this cold, snowy winter.

Other articles on Cornwall’s 2026 town meeting warning seek:

• $5,000 for the Cornwall Free Public Library for FY27.

• $81,200 to help the Cornwall Volunteer Fire Department for FY27.

• Permission for the delinquent tax collector to become an appointed, rather than elected position.

• A total of $35,245 in FY27 requests from a variety of Addison County nonprofits that serve Cornwall residents.

Voters will also field a proposed fiscal year 2027 Addison Central School District budget of $53 million, to provide PreK-12 public education for children in Bridport, Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham and Weybridge. If approved, the budget would result in a 3.58% increase in per-pupil education spending, for a total of $15,638 per child.

The proposed spending plan calls for a 2.15% bump (3 cents) in the district’s current education property tax rate of $1.62 per $100 in property value. But the actual education tax rates in the seven ACSD-member towns will vary, based largely on their common level of appraisal (CLA). CLAs — as determined by town-by-town analyses of their real estate sales by the Vermont Department of Taxes — compare towns’ property tax assessments to fair market value. If approved, the ACSD spending plan would result in an education property tax rate of $1.06 per $100 in property in Cornwall, based on the district’s latest projections. That would be down 95 cents from this year’s rate of $2.02.

It should be noted that two-thirds of Vermonters pay at least a portion of their school taxes based on income.

There’s a referendum on the March 3 ballot asking ACSD residents if they’d like to officially close Ripton Elementary. If that referendum passes, it paves the way for Ripton to reacquire the property.

Voters will be asked to fill four seats on the 13-member ACSD board — two from Middlebury, one from Salisbury and one from Bridport. There are no takers for the Salisbury seat and one of the Middlebury seats. Meanwhile, incumbent Jason Chance and new candidate Robyn Stattel are unopposed for the Middlebury and Bridport seats, respectively. All ACSD candidates run at-large in the seven-town district.

The Independent found out at the last minute that Salisbury resident James Clark is offering himself as a write-in candidate for the Salisbury seat on the ACSD board. He told us, “I live in Salisbury with my wife and our three children. I’ve stepped forward as a write-in candidate for the open Salisbury seat because I believe healthy communities depend on steady participation from the people who rely on them.”

County residents will field a proposed fiscal year 2027 Patricia Hannaford Career Center budget of $6,271,915, representing a 9.95% increase compared to the current spending plan that delivers Career and Technical Education to students interested in the trades. The increase is largely associated with debt service on a major Career Center improvement project, negotiated wages, and health insurances increases.

Cornwall’s annual meeting will be held at the Bingham Memorial School on Saturday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. Australian ballot voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 3, at the Cornwall Town Hall.