Royalton Voters Support
Selex in Controversies
By Richard Radford

Nothing keeps Vermont unique quite like Town Meeting. On Tuesday morning, citizens of Royalton gathered at the gymnasium in South Royalton to vote on the town budget and elect officials for positions in town.

A couple of articles also drew attention for a vote: whether to remove the position of town auditor, and whether to prohibit constables from performing law-enforcement duties. The votes were close, but townspeople went along with the selectboard's recommendation in both cases.

Although many chairs were filled in the auditorium in the high school, less than 25% of registered voters showed up at the polls. A total of 412 ballots were cast, out of 1950 registered residents.

Voters cast 236 ballots to prohibit constables from performing any law-enforcement duties, with 174 against the prohibition.

The office of town auditor was eliminated in a vote of 227 to 178. Karen Kerin and Grant Lester Corwin II were voted in as auditors, and will remain at these posts until the positions are eliminated.

Voters also cast their ballots to adopt the revised town plan.

Budget OKed

The town budget, $1,133,638, was approved with only trifling alterations.

The town budget for Royalton organizations was voted on, a total amount of $110,405 for 2007, a 12% increase from the 2006 budget of $98,328.

The majority of the increase, $10,000, is being requested for the Royalton Fire Department and Rescue Squad. The reason for the increase is that the department has behind $3,000 the past couple of budget cycles, as well as the increasing cost of fuel, and that the costs of heating oil and ambulance have increased

The vote for area service organizations was being raised a nominal sum, from $18,332 in 2006 to $18,930 for the upcoming budget. Concern was raised by a few people in attendance about the increase in budget for a couple of organizations: the Windsor County Partners, a mentoring program for area youth, and Windsor County Court Diversion, designed to aid the rehabilitation of criminal offenders with community-based positive action. It was noted that the two organizations had no representation present at the meeting.

The citizenry voted overwhelmingly to reduce the budgets of the two organizations to the amounts allocated the previous year, a $300 drop for Windsor County Partners to $200, and a $78 reduction for Windsor County Court Diversion, for a total of $2,222.

Elections

Several candidates were elected predominantly in uncontested races. David Ainsworth was elected as moderator for the town and school district. Theresa M. Harrington was elected for town clerk and treasurer. Larry F. Trottier and John P. Dumville were elected as selectmen, and Ernest L. Amsden won the contested selectman seat in a close race against Ronald E. Benson and Glenn Grote.

Jeff Barcelow was elected to the position of lister. Robert L. Hull was elected as second constable. Ilerdon Mayer was elected as collector of delinquent taxes. Joshua Powers was elected as trustee of public funds. Frank Berk was elected as town agent and school director. Allison Fulcher was elected as grand juror. Timothy Murphy was elected as school director.

There were no candidates listed for the positions of cemetery commissioner or library trustee.

Voters also approved a Highway Capital Improvement Reserve Account, approved the final town budget, authorized fund acquisition by the selectboard to perform duties, and set a date for property tax collection on or before Nov. 1, 2007.