Wages, benefits driving Middlebury spending

MIDDLEBURY — The Middlebury selectboard after Thanksgiving will begin its review of a fiscal year 2022 municipal spending plan that features an almost $300,000 increase being pushed by fixed and contracted costs. Middlebury Town Manager Kathleen Ramsay said those “major drivers,” totaling $298,854, include: •  An anticipated $70,292 increase in contracted salaries for municipal employees. That bumps the current payroll number of $3,624,213, up to $3,694,505 for the budget year that begins on July 1, 2021, a … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — In a move that could have dire long-term consequences for Addison County’s nursing home, the Green Mountain Care Board (GMBC) on Tuesday rejected Porter Hospital’s request for a 5.75% increase in its commercial rate as part of its fiscal year … (read more)

A year ago the Independent published a guest editorial by Bill Schubart that included the startling fact that there is a “$437 million budget for the military’s 130 marching bands.” Setting aside the question of why each band needs to cost over $3 million … (read more)

MIDDLEBURY — Porter Hospital is asking the Green Mountain Care Board (GMCB) to green-light a fiscal year 2021 budget of $92.3 million to cover its expenses, an increase of $2.1 million compared to this year’s spending plan. Porter, which sustained major r … (read more)

ORWELL — The third vote was the charm for passing a fiscal year 2021 K-12 budget for the Slate Valley Unified Union District Schools (SVUUSD), which includes Orwell. District voters on Tuesday endorsed a trimmed, $26,402,586 spending plan by a razor-thin … (read more)

ORWELL — Orwell voters on Tuesday, Aug. 11, will cast ballots on a revised 2020-2021 K-12 spending plan of $26,402,586 for Slate Valley Unified Union District Schools (SVUUSD). The budget is $220,455 less than a budget proposal district residents have def … (read more)

ORWELL — Orwell voters will return to the polls on Tuesday, Aug. 11, to cast ballots on a reduced 2020–2021 K–12 spending plan for Slate Valley Unified Union District Schools (SVUUSD). The SVUUSD board is expected to finalize a new budget number at its Ju … (read more)

ORWELL — Slate Valley Unified Union School District (SVUUSD) residents, including those in Orwell, turned out at the polls on Tuesday to again reject a proposed 2020–2021 budget of $26,623,041 for K–12 education. Only this time, the margin of defeat was w … (read more)

VERGENNES — The Vergennes City Council on Tuesday approved a budget for the upcoming fiscal year that calls for the municipal portion of the city tax rate to remain unchanged from the current year.  However, one portion of that budget — spending on the ci … (read more)

ORWELL — Orwell voters will join their fellow Slate Valley Unified Union School District (SVUUSD) residents at the polls on June 9 to field the same fiscal year 2021 K-12 public education budget that was defeated by just 95 tallies back on Town Meeting Da … (read more)

ORWELL — Orwell residents on Tuesday joined other Slate Valley Unified Union School District (SVUUSD) voters in soundly defeating a proposed $59.5 million bond issue that would have, among other things, bankrolled an 8,200-square-foot addition to the Orwe … (read more)

BRISTOL — Residents of the five towns of the Mount Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD) will be asked on Tuesday to say yea or nay to a $31,399,182 spending plan to fund the district’s six schools for the 2020-2021 school year. The budget, if adopted, … (read more)

BRISTOL — If residents of the Mount Abraham Unified School District (MAUSD) on March 3 approve the MAUSD board’s proposed $31,399,182 spending plan for the 2020-2021 school year, they are expected to face increases in their towns’ school tax rates ranging … (read more)

ADDISON — The Addison selectboard on Thursday adopted 2020-2021 administrative and highway budgets for voter approval on Town Meeting Day that would together increase town spending from the current year by about 4%, or about $47,500, to $1,157,841. That f … (read more)

VERGENNES — After months of intense public debate over how to address sharply rising costs and steadily declining enrollment, the Addison Northwest School District board has proposed a fiscal year 2021 budget that would reduce spending by more than 1% ove … (read more)