Bennington’s deliberative session Wednesday resulted in a change to articles referencing the towns timber and gravel sales, sending the articles to a study committee.
Two separate articles would have raised and appropriated $200 each from unassigned fund balance to be deposited into the Conservation Commission Fund, with each amount representing 50% of the income derived from the town’s timber tax and excavation tax, respectively, in the previous year. According to Town Clerk Deb Belcher, a third article introduced by the Conservation Commission called for the town to authorize 75% of the timber and gravel taxes to be deposited into the fund.
“Basically, we had a duplicate, only with different amounts,” Belcher said. “They kind of got blindsided by it.”
The result was an amended article to set up a committee that will study the timber and gravel tax and report back next year. This compromise removes the other articles in question from the warrant, and Belcher said it will likely help avoid confusion as well.
“I can just see some of our voters voting yes for one, no for the other,” she said.
The amendment was passed unanimously, according to Town Administrator Deb Davidson.
The rest of the meeting proceeded smoothly, according to Belcher, and did not result in other changes beyond minor typos. The session was also thinly attended, she said.
The town’s other major warrant articles include the operating budget, for $1.7 million, as well as money for the town’s various capital reserve funds such as the fire truck reserve fund, the Dodge Memorial Library fund and the bridge maintenance fund, totaling $189,500. An additional article asks for $45,000 to fund deferred road maintenance.
Voting on the warrant will be held on March 8, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Pierce Elementary School.