RIPTON — Ripton residents at their annual meeting on Monday, March 2, will vote on a fiscal year 2027 town/highway budget of $878,682, a $70,000 appropriation to maintain and operate the Ripton Elementary School building for municipal purposes, and a nonbinding resolution that would urge the state Legislature to support universal access to primary health care.

As previously reported by the Independent, Ripton this year could potentially reacquire its former elementary school from the Addison Central School District. There’s a referendum on the March 3 ballot asking residents of Bridport, Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham and Weybridge if they’d like to officially close Ripton Elementary. If that referendum passes, it paves the way for Ripton to reacquire the property.

Ripton officials have said the school building could host the town offices, a municipal library, a community center and gym, with enough space left over to attract a tenant to help offset future annual operating costs.

The proposed FY27 town/highway budget of $878,682 is only slightly higher than the current year’s spending plan of $869,487.

Ripton residents will field a non-binding resolution urging the state Legislature to discuss and vote on bill H.433, which would launch “Green Mountain Care,” a publicly financed health care program for all Vermont residents that would initially offer universal access to primary care.

In other town meeting business, Ripton residents will be asked to:

• Appropriate $47,100 for the Ripton Volunteer Fire Department.

• Appropriate $6,000 for the Ripton Cemetery Commission.

• Continue an agreement through which the Vermont Elks Association’s Silver Towers Camp property is assessed at 33% of its value.

Residents Milo Tudor and Brooke Wilcox are vying for a three-year term on the town selectboard. Incumbent Laurie Cox has opted to not seek reelection after 40 years of service (see story on Page 1A).

There are no other contested elections on the ballot this year.

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 state — compare towns’ property tax assessments to fair market value. If approved, the ACSD spending plan would result in an education property tax rate of $1.15 per $100 in property in Ripton, based on the district’s latest projections. That would be down 76 cents (40%) compared to this year’s rate of $1.91

Two-thirds of Vermonters pay at least a portion of their school taxes based on income.

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, Middlebury incumbent Jason Chance and Bridport newcomer Robyn Stattel are unopposed on the ballot for two 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.

Ripton’s annual meeting will be held on Monday, March 2, at 7 p.m. at the Ripton Community House at 1283 Route 125. Australian ballot voting will take place the next day at the same location, from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.