LUDLOW, Vt. – Ludlow held its annual Town Informational Meeting on Monday evening, March 3, at 7 p.m., at Ludlow Town Hall.
Several articles on the Town Warning were to be voted on the following day by Australian ballot, and voters heard presentations from town officials on these ballot articles. The first presentation was given by Ludlow Fire Chief Ben Whalen, in favor of replacing two of Ludlow’s aging pieces of fire apparatus, namely Engine 3 and Tower 1. Both pieces of equipment are nearing or exceeding their projected service lives, with Tower 1 in particular being more than 30 years old. Whalen also said that Engine 3 is prone to breaking down while on calls, causing safety issues for firefighters. The total cost for the two trucks was $3,623,000.
Ludlow resident Peter Girouard questioned Walen on whether or not the town was planning to use money from the fire equipment fund that Ludlow taxpayers contribute to on a yearly basis. Whalen responded that that money, “roughly $460,000,” was not being used to purchase the two new trucks. Instead, Whalen said he intends to use that money for other equipment which needs to be replaced more frequently at less substantial cost. The article passed the following day.
Town manager Brendan McNamara then rose to speak on the proposal to adopt a 1% local options tax on rooms, meals, alcohol, and sales within the Town of Ludlow. McNamara said that he believed the tax was a way for the town to fund necessary infrastructure projects without directly affecting the municipal tax rate of Ludlow taxpayers. To support this argument, McNamara used figures from fiscal year 2023 to show that Ludlow would have generated a total of $662,509 after the State of Vermont took its share of 30%. Of that amount, McNamara projected that only about $40,000 would come from Ludlow residents, meaning the vast majority would come from visitors to town.
Some residents expressed concerns that this tax would drive business into neighboring towns without the extra tax, as well as fearing that the increased revenue would result in increased spending. Ludlow resident Dean Alexander said that he believed that any potential uses for the funds generated by the local options tax should be put before Ludlow voters, and wanted to know if the money could eventually be used to offset other taxes for Ludlow residents. McNamara explained that if, after several years, the town has a large surplus of funds generated by the local options tax, Ludlow voters could propose a Town Meeting article to use the money to offset the municipal tax rate. The local options tax was approved by Australian ballot the following day.
McNamara then addressed Articles 4 and 5, proposing to make town clerk and town treasurer appointed, rather than elected, positions. McNamara explained that, while Ludlow is lucky to have current town clerk Ulla Cook, he is concerned that, when Cook retires, the town could find itself in a position where nobody runs for the position, and the town is left without a clerk, a necessary position for the administration of the town.
Ludlow resident Chris Miele pointed out that Cook has been in her position for nearly thee decades, as was her predecessor, and felt that a transition from accountability to the voters to accountability only to the selectboard was an undesirable situation. “Those appointed people answer to who? To [the selectboard], not to [the voters] any more,” Miele said, asking rhetorically whether a lack of selectboard candidates would result in the appointment of selectboard members or the elimination of the selectboard entirely. “We start slipping and eroding away our local government, and it’s a very dangerous slope,” Miele added. Despite these arguments, Ludlow voters passed both articles the following day.
Voters then addressed the Ludlow town budget from the floor. Brendan told voters that the overall budget had been increased by 5.3% over the previous year. “Some of these things are unfortunately uncontrollable for us,” McNamara said, indicating that rising insurance costs account for about 3% of the increase.
Ludlow Deputy Fire Chief Francis Kissell proposed to amend the budget to add $2,500 for Okemo Valley Technical Rescue, a 501(c)(3) organization created by the heads of local fire and ambulance departments to “provide training and equipment to a technical rescue company group that would cover Proctorsville, Ludlow, Mount Holly, and Plymouth.” The amendment passed, bringing the total budget to $4,936,295.40. The amended budget then passed.
Articles 10 and 11 were also passed from the floor, allotting $222,500 to be raised by taxes for the town capital fund, and approving $7,250 in funding for the MOOver. The final article, Article 12, was to transact any other business, including a discussion of alternative methods of delivery of the Town Report. Support was voiced for continued delivery of hard copies of the report, though some in attendance noted that they did not need one copy per household member.
The meeting was then adjourned. The Ludlow Selectboard will hold its next meeting on Monday, April 7, at 6 p.m., at Ludlow Town Hall.