SHOREHAM — Shoreham voters at their annual gathering on Monday, March 2, will field fiscal year 2027 general fund and highway spending proposals, and then go to the polls on March 3 to consider a variety of social service agency requests, local elections and school-related referenda.

The proposed FY27 highway spending proposal comes in at $1,110,500, a 3.4% increase compared to this year.

The FY27 general fund ask is for $483,997, a 2.3% hike compared to this year.

Voters at the annual meeting on Monday evening will also be asked to authorize the payment of real and personal property taxes on or before Tuesday, Nov. 10, while imposing a late penalty charge of 8%, plus interest, on delinquent taxes.

On March 3, voters will decide a combined $23,869 in funding requests from 19 Addison County nonprofits that serve Shoreham residents.

There are no contested elections on the Shoreham ballot this year. Rebecca Kerr and Mark Spitzner are unopposed for one-year terms on the town selectboard. Peter Lynch has clear sailing for a three-year term on the board.

Shoreham 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 $1.19 per $100 in assessed property value in Shoreham, based on the district’s latest projections. That would be up 9 cents (9%) compared to this year’s rate of $1.10.

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 of Middlebury and new candidate Robyn Stattel of Bridport are unopposed for seats. 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.

Shoreham’s annual meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Monday, March 2, in the Shoreham Elementary School auditorium at 130 School Road. Australian ballot voting will take place the next day, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Shoreham Town Office at 297 Main St.