SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – On Monday, March 3, town and school district moderator John Brady opened the Springfield Town Meeting by introducing Boy Scout Troop 252, who led the Pledge of Allegiance. The meeting was informational only, giving all those in attendance the opportunity to comment on any of the 29 articles presented.
There was no discussion on Articles 2-3, which proposed nominal compensation for the town moderator and each of the selectboard members. Hese articles passed the following day.
The town budget, a total sum of $15,872,049, was proposed in Article 4. Town manager Jeff Mobus reported that health insurance costs were up by 22%, and the cost of services had increased. “You can’t try to balance your budget on the backs of your employees,” Mobus commented. “If you’re not paying market wages…you’re not going to have the employees to do the services.”
Mobus recognized current public works director Jeff Strong, who was in attendance, and announced that Strong would be retiring at the end of this calendar year. Mobus thanked Strong for his more than 40 years of service to Springfield, where he has “worn many hats.”
Library director Sue Dowdell had also submitted her resignation to Mobus, after having served the town for six years.
Mobus reviewed a slide presentation that broke out the amount of taxes required in fiscal year 2026, $12,307,313, an increase of $657,307, or 5.75%. However, there was an increase of 6.1% in other revenue that reduced the percentage of taxes to be raised to 5.34%.
Mobus stated that the largest percentage of the town budget, 27%, goes toward public works, which covers the cost to maintain the town’s infrastructure. He noted that this year’s budget reflects a more realistically balanced distribution of expenditures due to town finance director Cathy Sohngen reallocating health insurance costs of about $1.2 million to align with appropriate personnel within each department’s budget, rather than presenting it in one lump sum.
Mobus reported on $70,000 in additional funding this year for economic development costs, approved by the board last year. “The way you reduce the tax rate,” Mobus explained, “is to grow the Grand List. So, the board is working very hard on economic development to attract new businesses and new residents.”
Upon Mobus’ recommendation, the selectboard applied $300,000 of fiscal year 2023 surplus funds to the amount to be raised by taxes in fiscal year 2026. That will bring the amount of the tax increase down to $357,307, a reduction of 3.15%. Springfield voters approved the budget by Australian ballot the nest day.
Article 5 appropriated $1 million for repaving, road construction, gravel road improvements, and ancillary services, as specified in the Road Surface Management System (RSMS) report prepared in 2022 as a 15-year improvement plan. This amount will be added to the current highway budget of $325,000.
Article 6 proposed a 1% local options tax applied to meals and rooms, in addition to the state’s 9% meals and rooms tax. The additional funds are intended to reduce property tax rates. This article was also approved the following day.
Aimee Parnell, executive director of SAPA TV in Springfield, was present to address the meeting with regards to their request of $10,000 in Article 7. SAPA TV has provided Springfield with video coverage and archiving services for the selectboard and school board for more than 25 years, Parnell reported. Fiscal year 2026 will be the first year SAPA TV is asking for compensation from the towns they cover to offset decreasing cable television subscribers, which in the past has contributed more than 80% of the public access network’s annual income. The article passed.
Articles 9-13, pertaining to the school board, school budget, and taxes, were reviewed, and some questions were brought up regarding declining enrollment numbers versus increasing costs. “Something doesn’t add up,” commented one Springfield resident.
The school district budget of $40,742,326 for the ensuing fiscal year is an expenditure of $13,918 per student, a 3.98% increase from the current budget.
Springfield resident and school budget committee member Rey Rigney addressed the meeting with regards to the “transition plan that was so arbitrarily and deceitfully pushed through without a care for what any of the parents in Springfield might have wanted.” Rigney was referring to the proposal to move fifth graders to the middle school.
Rigney remarked that the plan was approved hastily and behind the backs of parents, with none of the transparency promised. He concluded by stating that he no longer supported the budget, and no longer trusted the school board.
There was some discussion on meeting the needs of special education students, and selectboard member Michael Martin addressed the meeting speaking as a Springfield citizen who had worked on the school budget that eventually passed last year. “Nationwide, special needs students represent about 13% of enrollment,” Martin stated. “In Vermont, [that number] is about 17%. In Springfield, it is closer to 28%.”
About one-third of the proposed school budget covers special needs students.
Springfield voters disapproved the budget at the following day’s vote, one of only nine school districts statewide to do so.
Articles 14-29 proposed the appropriation of funds to various social services, such as SEVCA, Senior Solutions, Valley Health Connections, Turning Point Recovery, the Springfield Art and Historical Society, and the Springfield Community Band. All articles passed the following day.