PANTON — Panton residents will decide on town spending and officers from the floor of town meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 1, at Panton Town Hall, and cast votes from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m. at the same site on school spending and Addison Northwest Supervisory Union unification (see story on ANwSU merger).
Two town officials’ terms are set to expire on Town Meeting Day, those of Selectman Howard Hall and Vergennes Union Elementary School Board member Jason Fearon. According to town office officials, Hall, who was appointed to the selectboard in 2015, is interested in being nominated from the floor of town meeting, while Fearon was also believed to be interested in serving at least another year.   
No one filed paperwork for Panton’s seat on the 12-member Addison Northwest Unified District Board that would be created if all five ANwSU communities back unification on Tuesday. ANwSU officials said Panton’s selectboard would appoint the town’s representative if necessary.
The Panton selectboard proposed a $643,423 general fund budget that residents can approve or amend from the floor of town meeting.
The board is also recommending placing $59,000 into five capital funds, including $20,000 each into highway capital equipment and project funds and $15,000 into the Town Hall Restoration Fund.
The Vergennes Union High School Board adopted a $10,026,000 budget proposal for the 2016-2017 school year that represents a 2.23 percent cut from the current spending level.
Voters are also being asked to support a separate $100,000 capital fund line item for VUHS. VUHS spending would still be reduced by about $134,000, or 1.3 percent, if that article passes.
Panton residents will also vote on a VUES spending plan of $4.75 million that would increase elementary school spending by 1.05 percent, or about $50,000.