Middlebury budget battle continues

The Middlebury selectboard has made progress in reducing the property tax impacts of a draft fiscal year 2027 municipal budget.

Ripton’s Bill Hunsinger is good at a lot of things — brewing beer, parenting a daughter, serving on his town’s selectboard. But his biggest talent might be saying “Yes.”

It’s looking increasingly likely that the ACSD might have to shed programming in order to afford even a fraction of the more than $60 million in physical upgrades at its schools.

Residents in Middlebury, Bridport and Salisbury have until Jan. 26 to file petition papers for four available seats that will be up for grabs on the ACSD board.

Lawmakers have a big question awaiting them — how to move forward with the process of transforming Vermont’s education system. There local superintendents weigh in.

Middlebury residents will be asked to support a bond to complete the final stage of an effort to replace an almost 10,000 feet of aging water main adjacent on Foote Street.

Hannaford Career Center leaders are asking the state to ramp up school choice among Vermont’s 17 Career and Technical Education hubs, which could increase enrollment and lower its tuition.

Miro Weinberger is now executive chair of Let’s Build Homes, a nonprofit working to address Vermont’s housing deficit.

Barring any major, 11th-hour subtractions or additions, ACSD voters on March 3 will be asked to approve $53 million in spending to educate Middlebury-area PreK-12 students during the 2026-2027 academic year.

Most Addison County voters on Town Meeting Day will field a proposed Patricia Hannaford Career Center budget of $6,271,915, representing a 9.95% increase compared to the current spending plan.

The Bar, a new gym at 656 Exchange St., is stuffed with free weights, an assortment of lifting and cardio machines, and even a huge tractor tire.

The Middlebury Development Review Board (DRB) has approved a 35-unit, four-story apartment building — that will also host a restaurant — on a 0.71-acre lot near the intersection of Middle Road and Route 7 South.

Middlebury during the next few years will likely see an infusion of more than 200 new housing units.

Addison County State’s Attorney Eva Vekos pleaded no contest Tuesday to a charge of drunken driving and received a six-month deferred sentence.

The 70-year-old building requires around $15.4 million in repairs just to properly serve current enrollees.