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 Burlington Free Press
By Matt Sutkoski, Staff Writer
Thursday, March 4, 2010
www.burlingtonfreepress.com/article/20100304/NEWS02/3040308/Colchester-budget-defeats-leave-confusion
COLCHESTER -- The fate of education spending, road construction and possibly even general municipal services hangs in the balance in Colchester in the wake of budget defeats and near-defeats on Town Meeting Day...
A capital projects funding mechanism that supports projects such as new sidewalks and street paving in Colchester fell to defeat, 1,419 to 1,332...
Residents' vote against the capital projects threatens a variety of planned projects in Colchester, Public Works Director Bryan Osborne said. Those include reconstruction of a segment of Poor Farm Road, planning and engineering for East Lakeshore Drive sidewalks, improvements to Severance Corners, and safety reconfigurations for the intersection of East and Depot roads.
Voters since 1993 have re-authorized the capital expenditure every sixth year or so, by agreeing to spend 4.5 cents of the tax rate on the projects. The amount of money varies year to year, depending upon the size of the grand list, but this year, the figure would have amounted to $563,000, Osborne said.
Osborne said the defeat could jeopardize state and federal matching funds Colchester uses to pay for road and sidewalk construction projects. "We are now in the process of fully understanding the impacts of this vote," he said...
A ballot measure authorizing the Selectboard to look into purchasing Camp Holy Cross from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont was approved. The fate of that land is uncertain, as Colchester will be reaching out to the diocese to buy the land alongside a host of private would-be buyers seeking the land, Town Manager Al Voegele said.
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