Tinmouth set for early start
Toolbox
By Alan J. Keays Herald Staff - Published: February 21, 2006
TINMOUTH — Town Meeting Day is getting its traditional early start in Tinmouth.
Tinmouth residents will once again kick off Rutland County's town meeting season on Saturday, March 4, three days before most other communities.
In Tinmouth, voters will get together for the Saturday-afternoon meeting to vote on school and town budgets as well as to elect officers for the next year. Residents nominate municipal and school officers from the floor at the meeting.
Town Clerk Gail Fallar said Tinmouth has held its town meeting on Saturday for about the past 15 years.
"We try to encourage more participating by having it on Saturday," she said. "We want people to come out and vote. You have to be there to vote. We do it the old-fashioned way."
The proposed town budget is proposed at $168,850, an increase of 14.2 percent, or $20,970, from last year's $147,880. The increase is primarily to set aside money for a future reappraisal of property and to update town property maps, Fallar said.
"Between those two it's $11,500," she said of the increase in the proposed town spending plan for next year.
The proposed highway budget for next year is $309,610, an increase of 5 percent, or $14,810, from last year's highway budget of $294,800.
"There is an increase for our equipment fund allocation," Fallar said. "We figured out that we're going to have to replace our 1971 road grader in another 10 years. If we put away $10,000 a year for 10 years, we might have enough to do it."
The proposed school budget for next year is $1,173,850, an increase of about 6.5 percent, or $71,813, over last year's spending plan of $1,102,037, according to Fallar, who also serves as town and school treasurer.
The increase is primarily due to rising special education costs and tuition expenses, she said.
For elective offices, Selectwoman Cathy Reynolds and School Board member Francene Cone are up for re-election to three-year terms. Any challengers would be nominated from the floor.
The town meeting is set for Saturday, March 4, at 1 p.m. at the Tinmouth Community Center.
Contact Alan J. Keays at alan.keays@rutlandherald.com.
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