Brandon
Brandon residents will meet at the Brandon Town Hall on Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m. for their 2025 Town Meeting. The meeting is primarily informational, giving the Selectboard an opportunity to present its proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026, which will begin on July 1, 2025 and end on June 30, 2026. It’s also an opportunity for town residents to voice their concerns and ask questions of town officials.
The only vote scheduled to be taken on the floor at Town Meeting is whether to exempt the buildings and property of the Brandon Senior Center from property tax. All other articles will be done by Australian ballot on Tuesday, March 4 at the Brandon American Legion from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Ballot
For FY26, the Selectboard is proposing a total town budget of $3,403,965, which represents an increase of $75,084 or 2.25% over the current year’s budget of $3,328,881. The amount specifically to be raised by taxes will increase by 1.4% to $2,876,645.
Brandon voters will also elect three members to the town’s Selectboard. There are two 1-year seats and one 3-year seat open.
The candidates for the 1-year seats are Vicki Disorda, Jeff Haylon, Ray Marcoux, and Cecil Reniche-Smith.
Ms. Reniche-Smith held a seat on the Board from March 2023 to March 2024, when she chose not to run for reelection. The other candidates would all be new to the Board. Mr. Marcoux ran for a seat last year but was not elected. These 1-year seats are being vacated by Ralph Ethier and Heather Nelson. Mr. Ethier is choosing to run for the available 3-year seat and Ms. Nelson is opting not to run for reelection.
The candidates for the 3-year seat are Ralph Ethier and Isaiah Webb. Mr. Ethier has been on the Selectboard since 2022, when he was appointed to replace Mike Markowski, who had relinquished his seat. He has since been reelected to the Board. Mr. Webb is running for a seat on the Board for the first time. This 3-year seat is being vacated by Tim Guiles, who is finishing his second 3-year term on the Board.
Other positions on the ballot:
- Moderator (1-year seat): no candidate on the ballot
- Trustee of Public Funds (3-year seat): Courtney Satz, who currently holds a seat as Trustee, is running unopposed
- Trustee of the Brandon Free Public Library (2-year seat): Mat Clouser is running unopposed
Appropriations
Brandon voters will be asked to approve the following appropriations:
- $50,000 for a Capital Fund for future capital asset purchases for the Town of Brandon
- $7,000 for the Brandon Independence Day Celebration
- $25,000 for the Brandon American Legion
- $1,000 for the Brandon Area Chamber of Commerce
- $82,580 for the Brandon Area Rescue Squad
- $92,000 for the Brandon Free Public Library
- $5,000 for the Brandon Museum
- $15,500 for the Brandon Senior Center
- $1,000 for the Open Door Clinic, Community Health Services of Rutland County
- $1,500 for the Rutland County Humane Society
- $2,900 for the Southwestern Vermont Council on Aging
- $1,000 for Vermont Adult Learning
- $10,200 for the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region
If approved by voters, these amounts will be added to the total amount to be raised by property taxes.
Pittsford
Pittsford residents will meet at the Lothrop Elementary School on Monday, March 3 for their 2025 Town Meeting. The meeting will provide the Selectboard an opportunity to present its proposed budget and to answer any questions from the public.
At the meeting on Monday, the following votes will be taken:
- $1,827,883 for the town’s 2025-2026 operating budget, of which $1,404,123 will be raised by property taxes
- $1,213,555 for highway expenditures, of which $1,065,205 will be raised by property taxes
- $17,000 for Village District expenses
- August 15, September 15, and November 17, 2025 as the dates for delivery of taxes by residents to the town
Appropriations
The following appropriations will also be voted on the floor on Monday:
- $2,500 for the Wonderfeet Kid’s Museum
- $7,500 for the Pittsford Historical Society
- $5,000 for the Marble Valley Bus
- $1,000 for the Pittsford Cemetery Association
- $1,500 for the Bowen-Walker Fund
- $2,000 for the Pittsford Food Shelf
- $11,964 for the Regional Ambulance Service
- $3,600 for the Rutland County Restorative Justice Center
- $4,931 for the VNA & Hospice of the Southwest Region
- $125,000 for the Maclure Library
- $1,400 for ARC Rutland Area
- $427 for RSVP/VC
- $1,100 for the Southern Vermont Council on Aging
- $200 for Green-Up Day
- $1,000 for the Rutland County Humane Society
If approved, these amounts will be added to the total amount to be raised by property tax from the residents of Pittsford.
Ballot
On Tuesday, March 4, Pittsford voters will vote by Australian ballot at the Pittsford Town Office for the following positions:
- Town Moderator (1-year): no candidates on the ballot
- Selectboard member (2-year seat): current Vice-chair David Mills is running unopposed
- Selectboard member (3-year seat): current Chair Alicia Malay is running unopposed
- Trustee of Public Funds (3-year seat):
Otter Valley Unified Union
The voters of the Otter Valley Unified Union School District (Brandon, Goshen, Leicester, Pitsford, Sudbury, and Whiting) will meet on Wednesday, February 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Otter Valley Union High School for the OVUU Annual Meeting.
Though the OVUU School Board will present an overview of its proposed budget of $28,022,999 on February 26, District residents will have to wait until Tuesday, March 4 to vote on the budget by paper ballot.
However, several agenda items will be voted on the floor on the 26th. Attendees will be asked to vote for moderator, clerk, and treasurer of the District. They will also be asked to set the compensation for those officers and for the elected OVUU Board members.
Perhaps the most anticipated vote of the evening will be the proposed transfer of land to the Valley Community Center (VCC), a proposed recreation center. VCC has asked the District to transfer 10 acres of unused land on the Otter Valley Union High School campus for the project. The cost of the proposed project is estimated to be $12.1 million, much of which will need to be raised from taxpayers across the several towns of the District.
The article in question reads as follows:
“Shall the voters approve the Unified Union District’s conveyance of a +/-10-acre parcel of
land along the easterly boundary of the Otter Valley Union High School (OVUHS)
property and southerly of the OVUHS’s access driveways, in exchange of One Dollar
($1.00), to the Valley Community Center (VCC), contingent on VCC securing sufficient
funds by March 30, 2027 to construct a community center or recreation facility with
related improvements southerly of the OVUHS access driveways with no additional
Unified Union District financial commitment to the property or to VCC?”
The vote has sparked intense and sometimes contentious discussion in the community. Some residents claimed that the vote was not publicized widely enough. Some criticized the decision to hold a floor vote on the question. Some residents argued that the project was too expensive. Some raised concerns that the article was too vague.
For its part, the OVUU Board stated that it was not permitted by law to put the question on the paper ballot and was obligated to hold a floor vote instead.
If voters approve the transfer, VCC will have 2 years to obtain the funding for the project or the transfer will be void and the land will remain with the District.
VCC is being spearheaded by a group of local citizens, most prominently Tanner Romano, co-owner of Naylor & Breen.
Ballot
On Tuesday, March 4, voters in the OVUU District will be asked at their respective polling stations to approve the proposed budget ($28,022,999) and to elect 8 members of the OVUU School Board.
The open seats are the following:
- 3-year seat from Brandon: incumbent Lauren Thomas is running unopposed
- 1 year of a 3-year term from Leicester: incumbent Lesley Bienvenue is running unopposed
- 3-year seat from Pittsford: incumbent Brett Mullin is running unopposed
- 2 years of a 3-year seat from Pittsford: incumbent Jessica Markowski is running unopposed
- 3-year seat from Sudbury: incumbent Laurie Bertrand is running unopposed
- 3-year at-large seat: incumbent Barbara Ebling of Brandon is running unopposed
- 2 years of a 3-year at-large seat: uncontested
- 2 years of a 3-year seat from Whiting: uncontested
